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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737658">The first step into a thousand miles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saph_wnchstr/pseuds/Saph_wnchstr'>Saph_wnchstr</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Fights, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Luther Hargreeves Being an Asshole, Multi, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Time Travel, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:08:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>57,588</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saph_wnchstr/pseuds/Saph_wnchstr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Umbrella Academy jumped back to escape the Apocalypse they caused. They ended up back in their thirteen year old selves. But have they jumped back in their own time or fallen into an alternate timeline/reality?<br/>Number 13 won't say.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves &amp; Original Female Character(s), Number Five | The Boy &amp; Allison &amp; Ben &amp; Diego &amp; Klaus &amp; Luther &amp; Vanya, The Hargreeves Family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. She's Watching Over Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first foray into this fandom, and first story for ao3. I gave it my best shot, admittedly spent more time shuffling through my playlist then character studies. Let me know what you think in the comments. Mistakes are my own and I own them.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>(Hazy Shade of Winter by Gerard Way intro plays)</em>
  <br/>
  <strong>Time.</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>   Time.</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>        Time.</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>               See what’s become of me…</strong>
  <br/>
  <em>(Before the guitar riff the song changes to See What I’ve Become by Zack Hemsey)</em>
</p>
<p>Time: long and endless.</p>
<p>Also fast like a blink of an eye.</p>
<p>Could be suffered through with stretches of sorrow or moments of joy.</p>
<p>How much of time was lost in waiting?</p>
<p>Time was watched and measured in a thousand different ways throughout Time itself.</p>
<p>If only one was smart enough to catch Time and stuff it in a box for personal use.</p>
<p>Well, stuff it into a briefcase and use to play a game of desolation against the Umbrella Academy.</p>
<p>None played this game better than the Commissioner, who played it so well they didn’t even know it was happening.</p>
<p>It was a lovely game, lovely in its simplicity.</p>
<p>Number Five, aka the Boy, a spatial and time jumper, would jump ahead to just prove he could, only to end up stranded in the Apocalypse with nothing but dust and the rotting bodies of his family. Spending the next 45 years losing his mind, trying to survive and then when he was almost as ground down as the landscape; a bone was thrown.</p>
<p>Kill who he was told to for the Commission and they’d send him back to his family. He’d put in three of the five years and jump ship to save his family, only to fail and have to jump again.</p>
<p>And when he did, he would end up right back at the start, as a cocky boy pushing a power he had no real understanding of and seeing the world to burn to ruin.</p>
<p>Over and over, every time, for all of Time. Or that was how it had been for so long.</p>
<p>Now he’d jumped a little further than he ever had.</p>
<p>It was possible that all these repetitive jumps had strengthened him up to jump out of the loop.</p>
<p>Not that it mattered.</p>
<p>The game was only to last till the fun or Time ran out.</p>
<p>And Time would flow as the Commissioner saw fit… to the end of all things.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>~*~*~*~*~</b>
</p>
<p>Systemic shifts in the universe may have unnerved and upset most people.</p>
<p>But in the Umbrella Academy, where a billionaire that would have made Hitler shudder at his ruthlessness and disregard for people, a sentient, enabling chimpanzee, and a robot nanny-mom with more warmth in her circuits than the warm-blooded born adults in the mansion, Briana had witnessed and felt worse things.</p>
<p>She hadn’t quite known what she was walking into nine years ago when she stood on the stairs of the not-yet-known Academy. But both eyes were wide open now and still she never turned for the door to leave.</p>
<p>Didn’t mean she did not get out of bed with a groan of despair and exasperation, knowing a long, tiring day was ahead.</p>
<p>But the distress was already so thick in the air from where she had been sleeping that she could not ignore the call to be of help.</p>
<p>The closer she got the source the less it became about feeling where the problem was and more about hearing it. Specifically, the deep ominousness creeks in the walls and the near constant scattering of dust falling from the ceiling and collecting on the floor.</p>
<p>She almost didn’t believe who the cause of all the fuss was. This particular person had always felt gray and murky, hard to pin down, since the day she moved into the Academy.</p>
<p>Only recently had she discovered this was not a natural part of her personality as she had thought, but rather a chemical ruse cooked up by a rich sadist. She had been working on a way of lifting the thick film off of her, but apparently time and Five had beaten her to the mark.</p>
<p>Her heart panged at the sight when she finally caught up to Vanya. Even after bracing herself against the weight of being so close, the onslaught of emotions almost knocked her on her back.</p>
<p>The sheer depth of what she felt, the rage and betrayal, the remorse and guilt, the loneliness and abandonment. The <em>fear</em> she had for herself at what she could do, what she had done, and the phantom fear felt by the ones she called family.</p>
<p>If Briana had not already cut her teeth against all manner of pains in this house, these emotions would have consumed her empathetic powers and sent her into deep coma.</p>
<p>As it where, she needed to get Vanya to calm down before all the practice and protections in the world were a moot point.</p>
<p>“Vanya,” she called out softly, hoping not to startle her too bad.</p>
<p>Vanya whipped around in fright at someone being at her back, thinking the family had woken up and found her. Not realizing it was not a voice she knew.</p>
<p>“Who- who are you?” she asked before deciding it didn’t matter and warned her off. “Stay away.”</p>
<p>“Hey,” Briana soothed inching closer, her palms up to show she was harmless. (She wasn’t, but appearances matter) “It’s okay.”</p>
<p>This was a poor choice of words as instead of calming down, Vanya just got more worked up.</p>
<p>“I need to leave,” she panted, air feeling thin as her heart rabbited against her chest.</p>
<p>“It’s the middle of night,” Briana pointed out, moving closer still.</p>
<p>Vanya did not like that, <em>at all</em>.</p>
<p>“Stay away!” she screamed.</p>
<p>The hallway rumbled deeper as the walls groaned under the force she emitted. The floor rolled underfoot.</p>
<p>Briana looked from the floor to the walls to Vanya, surprised. If Vanya were any less panicked, she’d have notice it was not surprised enough.</p>
<p>She shrank back and in on herself, ashamed by the outburst. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I need to go.”</p>
<p>“It’s okay. Vanya, it’s okay. But I can’t let you go out, not alone. You’re distressed and you could hurt yourself,” she explained, worried.</p>
<p>Vanya shook her head. “No. No, you’re lying.”</p>
<p>Briana’s eyes sharpened at the denial. Her power latched onto the feeling and followed it to the source, the why it was there. And she knew how to fix this.</p>
<p>“I can prove I’m not, Vanya. Can I take your hand?” she offered, her own out, waiting.</p>
<p>“Why? What would that do?” Vanya hesitated, remembering the last time someone had held her close.</p>
<p>At last this one was asking first.</p>
<p>“I have a power too. I’m an Empath. I can feel and change emotions. It’s why I’m here with you, you needed me.”</p>
<p>Vanya couldn’t get her own family, people she grew up with to come help her when she needed them. And the last stranger that had offered their time and affection so freely had only wanted to use her.</p>
<p>“I don’t know you. I’ve never met you. Dad didn’t bring you to join the Academy,” Vanya babbled.</p>
<p>“My name’s Briana. I’m Klaus’ twin sister. And maybe in your time I never made it here. I think the Trans-Siberian orchestra show Five’s pulled off has messed with more than time, yeah? Sure, Five has a whole lecture on how this is possible, but that’s not the point now. The point is, I know a Vanya like you here, and I’d have helped her as much as you.”</p>
<p>It was so Klaus-like in delivery, it lulled her a bit to answer. “Yeah. We’re older than. And I-I-I done some things. I have powers and they don’t like it. They’re afraid of me. …I’m afraid of me.”</p>
<p>Hot tears formed rivers down her cheeks.</p>
<p>“I hurt Allison. I think, I think I broke the world. I can’t- I don’t know how to do this. These powers, they just take control of me and I can’t stop them.” She wailed and her surroundings trembled in sympathy.</p>
<p>“That’s what happens when you put a lid on a tornado. But these powers are yours and I’m sorry you learned this so late. But you should get learn and make them yours.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think that the others will like that. That they’ll let me.”</p>
<p>Briana scowled. “They’re not awake enough for me to say what they’re feeling with any certainty. But I do know that they could have left you in that world on fire. They brought you with them. They’d only do that if they cared for you more than they feared you.</p>
<p>“But this is not about them. It’s about you, and your power, what you want to do with it. You could find out now if you even want to train this into something. No one is here to stop you; you can use this time to find your anchor. Once you have that, not even your dad could move you.”</p>
<p>Vanya was scared and nervous. The hurt this power had shown was more than the good. But it was hers and she had always been denied in using it. Always been told she was wrong, that she didn’t fit. Here was someone who not only encouraged her, but didn’t make her feel small or wrong.</p>
<p>“Could, could I actually do that?”</p>
<p>“You’ve felt wrong in your own skin all your life. Now’s the time to feel it; pure and strong, just once. Do whatever you like and know it’s alright to do it.”</p>
<p>Stranger or not, she took this temptress’ words to heart and followed her.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>Klaus’ first thought at waking up was; ‘why couldn’t Vanya have blown up the sun?’</p>
<p>It was always so annoying with its retina searing brightness. Even his recent commitment to sobriety was not enough to dull the ache the beam had on his head. But then, he supposes that it was nice to wake up at all even if it wasn’t completely painless. The alternative was being buried under his little sister’s rage-made moon dust that had set the world on fire.</p>
<p>Guess their wayward old man, teenage brother had pulled them back like he said he would. And pretty far back too judging by the youthful faces around him.</p>
<p>Ben was use to dipping in and out of the void since his untimely death. But this time he came too with a weird heaviness he had not felt before and an odd motion in his chest. At first, he feared the Them, the monsters in his guts were rolling around, threatening to get out. But the feeling was higher up in his chest.</p>
<p>Then he remembered the last time he left like he did now.</p>
<p>When he was more than a memory in his family’s minds and a shadow to only one brother. When he had the matter to be bound by laws and rules of the universe.</p>
<p>When he was <em>alive</em>.</p>
<p>When his heart beat his life song in his chest.</p>
<p>The more awake he became the more it thumped against his ribs and under his hands. He was moved to tears at the wonderful feeling again.</p>
<p>“Klaus,” he murmured, calling out to his only companion in death.</p>
<p>Klaus looked at his brother. At first, he was concerned by the look on his face; a face that had not changed since he died at sixteen. A face that was changed now to when they were all thirteen. Which meant…</p>
<p>“Holy shit.” He poked him in the arm and his hand didn’t go through as it had been for twelve years.</p>
<p>“Holy shit,” he repeated before gathering him close, consumed by happiness.</p>
<p>Their elation was loud enough it woke the others.</p>
<p>Diego snorted awake and rolled to more comfortable position then what he had landed in. He was taken aback at the intact house. A few hours ago, it was falling all around them.</p>
<p>Luther pushed himself up, as the leader needing to take stock of their surroundings to better command the others. Only to be sidetracked seeing Allison on the ground. It was too soon after seeing her in the most vulnerable and small state she had been earlier. The picture of her covered in blood laying broken on the cabin floor. Feeling her limp in his arms, so close to death he worried she wouldn’t make it even after all clear.</p>
<p>Allison picked herself up after seeing who was trying to help her. She was still mad at him for what he did. And in doing so her eyes landed on someone she and the family hadn’t seen in years.</p>
<p>“Ben?” she breathed. For a moment she wondered how she could speak at all, but it seemed the damage to her throat had not carried over to the time they jumped to.</p>
<p>“Guys,” Klaus cheered through tears. “Guys, Ben's alive. Come hug.”</p>
<p>No need to be told twice. All too glad to see their lost brother.</p>
<p>That was when their first lost-now-returned brother Five made him presence known by groaning weakly.</p>
<p>The Academy’s resident time hopper may be more conscious then before, but was by no means as lucid as the others.</p>
<p>Klaus went to his brother’s side with Ben close behind. His old habit of following Klaus around not likely to break soon.</p>
<p>At first glance, Five looked… well, Klaus would say deflated. Like someone let the air out of their grouchy brother. Appearance wise he was all connected as he should be, he just seemed lesser somehow. Not surprising with how much it must have taken to not only move seven people spatially but also temporally.</p>
<p>Klaus was very glad Ben was now alive again and seeing him himself, otherwise Klaus would be worried Five had ‘ghosted’ them in a different sense.</p>
<p>As grand as it was to have the house back and being together again. There was still the glaring matter of why they had to exit out of the frying pan as they had.</p>
<p>“We need to make a plan for how to deal with Vanya,” Luther started, not seeing the point in wasting more time on the matter.</p>
<p>“<em>You</em> are not going to go near her.” Now that Allison had her voice back, she was going to give Luther the piece of her mind he missed out on earlier with his bullheaded shutdown. “You’ve done enough.”</p>
<p>Luther gave her a wounded look. “What have I done? She’s the one who hurt you, who tried to hurt us.”</p>
<p>“I told you it was my fault. And then you sicced the rest of us on her. You didn’t even give her a chance to explain or say anything in her own defense. You just locked her up and threw away the key. You had us watch her fall apart in that cage.”</p>
<p>“I did what I had to do.”</p>
<p>“Where does you choking me and throwing me across the room so you can go wallow in drugs and women at a rave fit into what you have to do?” Klaus asked mildly. Which for Klaus was downright spiteful.</p>
<p>Normally, he wouldn’t have said anything to add to the already messed up mix going on in his family. But withdrawal was more mental than physical, so hitting the reset button had not gotten him out of this. Goody! Plus, the memory of his sweet little sister sobbing her heart out in that box desperate for someone to save her torn at his soul. He was angrier at himself for not trying harder to free her.</p>
<p>“You what?!” Diego growled. “Jesus, Luther. Is there anyone here you haven’t bulldozed over to have your way?”</p>
<p>“Don’t act like you all didn’t fell in line behind me anyway,” Luther defended.</p>
<p>“We tried. We told you; it wasn’t right, to find another way. But what chance did we have against you changing your mind if Allison couldn’t make you?”</p>
<p>From where he lay propped up in Klaus’ lap Five let out a weak moan of ‘Vanya?’, just loud enough for Klaus to hear.</p>
<p>He looked around so he could assure him Vanya was okay to ease his brother, then froze.</p>
<p>He counted again, making sure to check all over. He even asked Ben to count heads. They both came up short.</p>
<p>“Uh, guys. Where<em> is </em>Vanya?” Klaus called to the others.</p>
<p>This was immediately followed by Ben asking, “Does anyone hear music?”</p>
<p>
  <em>(Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac)</em>
</p>
<p>The vertical few collectively froze in horror remembering the last time they had heard music being played around their sister.</p>
<p>Five was too shaky to rush with the group, never mind making another jump. Klaus threw an arm over his shoulder taking most of his weight and hurrying off after the group. The fact that Five only tensed a little and didn’t growl or push him away meant he was beyond tired. And it was either accept help or be left behind.</p>
<p>Even with the extra weight Klaus was quick in catching up with the mad dash to one of the training rooms. They all gathered at the threshold, gob-smacked by what was doing on inside it.</p>
<p>The usual straightedge, uniformed and sterile training room was now the site of junk sale party. The source of the music was a battered radio against the wall filling the space with its song.</p>
<p>The strange part was the various pieces throughout the house had not only been brought into the room but were now floating around it.</p>
<p>Different bric-a-brac were twirling and circling the room against the laws of gravity with no apparent cause. It had them hypothesized for a moment, captivated by the sight before the previous evening (or an evening yet to happen for another 17 years) reared its head and reminded them the same power and its source had destroyed the moon. And thus, the earth.</p>
<p>Vanya stood in the center of the junk storm bobbing and swaying to the music, looser and more relaxed then the Academy had ever seen her.</p>
<p>It was a bad thing to think of one of your family as dull and drub, that they were synonymously as interesting as a piece of furniture. But that been the truth in terms of Vanya. Terms, greatly encouraged and enforced by their father.</p>
<p>Now she was flushed with new life, almost glowing. Moving less like a puppeteer was responsible for her movements. It was a good look for her.</p>
<p>But more stunning then the causal use of a power they had just seen used to end the world by blowing up a celestial body, was that Vanya was not alone in the room.</p>
<p>The stranger was more actively dancing along with the whirlpool of freewheeling objects.</p>
<p>She had a soft opal shaped face with a chaotic mess of chestnut tendrils gathered at the crown. She wore a dusky yellow knit cardigan over a beige gray tunic that bundled up down past her waist and layered over an artfully tattered burgundy short skirt. Coupled with her dancing the sight had a very bumblebee like energy.</p>
<p>Vanya laughed quietly as she twirled close to her, enjoying the moment.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p>The moment that was shattered when she turned with her dance partner and spotted the rest of the them.</p>
<p>The peaceful and gentle tone of the wind in the room spiked up in panic. Objects that had danced as merrily as the people in it dropped harshly to the floor. The more porcelain things cracked, but didn’t break. The radio’s medley jerked like a needle on a record into loud static briefly. Just long enough for Vanya to use it into launching the other still unknown person into a full body spin in the air.</p>
<p>Everyone thought for sure she’d hit the ground hard, hard enough to break something. But she surprised them all by turning with the momentum and righting herself into hitting the floor like a balance beam landing. She wobbled and pinwheeled her arms to keep upright but didn’t dispel enough of the force to stick it and fell on her butt.</p>
<p>She surprised them further still by laughing.</p>
<p>“Again, Again. A little more air this time, and I’ll stick it for sure,” she acclaimed as she jumped up and over to Vanya, who looked relieved her companion wasn’t hurt.</p>
<p>Ever the tactful one, Diego got the heart of what was on everyone’s mind and growled out, “Who the hell are you?”</p>
<p>“More to the point,” Luther interjected, always having to be the leader. “Vanya, what do you think you’re doing?’</p>
<p>“Prac- Practicing.” Vanya had started off her usual small and quiet self, then looked at her friend and straightened up and repeated herself louder and firmer.</p>
<p>“Really think that’s a good idea, given what you’ve done already?” Luther sniped, succeeding in taking the wind out of her sails.</p>
<p>“I think those new cracks the tenth hallway look like a butterfly. It’s a nice distraction from the mustard paint job,” the new girl mused. Her voice was lightly accented German.</p>
<p>“Who are you?” Luther demanded, trying to pulling up to a height he didn’t have anymore.</p>
<p>Diego huffed and rolled his eyes at his brother.</p>
<p>She smirked. “Name, number, or code?”</p>
<p>Luther was disoriented by the reply. “What?”</p>
<p>“Her name’s Briana,” Vanya offered. “She calmed me down.”</p>
<p>“How?” Allison asked, knowing that talking Vanya off the ledge was no mean feat. Alison had tried some drastic actions to stop her. Granted, they were the worst ones she could have picked, but she was panicked.</p>
<p>“I’m an Empath,” Briana explained gleefully with a low elaborate bow. “Emotions and feelings are my dominion as the dead are my better half’s.”</p>
<p>Everyone just blinked at her.</p>
<p>“My twin brother, Klaus.” The words were snappish, impatient at having to connect the dots for them, but the look on her face as she looked at Klaus was unbelievably soft.</p>
<p>So far no one was questioning what her being there meant. People had been popping in and out as they liked since Five had returned from his ill-gotten time jump. With time travel now being a daily topic of conversion, it meant accepting new unwanted guests into the Academy. To be fair, some had been okay, others were not even a little.</p>
<p>Jury was out on this current one.</p>
<p>If asked Klaus would have given her the okay.</p>
<p>He had been feeling this connection since he saw her. Like there had been a click inside his very being at the sight of her. Something slotting into place so effortlessly, that he was not aware right away what it was. Only now knowing that something had been missing in his life and now knew what it was.</p>
<p>He had felt something like it when he met Dave. This was not as intense, but by no means less significant.</p>
<p>He remembered a sad, sweet ghost girl. The first ghost he remembered seeing. Only it had not been a ghost after all.</p>
<p>Twins were said to share odd connections with the other, some believed they were two halves of a soul in separate bodies. Even when he was a happy as he was with Dave, he still felt less than full.</p>
<p>Klaus didn’t realize they were moving to meet the other, unconsciously reaching out to the other like mirrored sides joining in the middle.</p>
<p>She was the same height as him, had the same shifting green eyes, the same mouth wanting to be a smile but hardly ever given a reason to form.</p>
<p>Their foreheads brushed together in gentle affection, content to stay there if allowed. Her palms came up to frame his face, his hands coming up to hold her wrists in answer.</p>
<p>When she spoke, it was whispered so as to not be overheard, and she spoke in German.</p>
<p>“<span>Mein Herz schreit nach deiner Lose, aber nach deiner Stärke zur Nüchternheit.</span>” <em>My heart cries out for your lose, but proud of your strength to sobriety. </em></p>
<p>“<span>Wo träumst du?</span>” <em>Where you a dream?</em></p>
<p>As wonderful as this felt, he was also back in the worst time of his life. Before the numb fog of drugs which beat off the death, the loss of his brothers, and a life of living cold and tired on the streets that followed after.</p>
<p>“<span>Wenn ich es wäre, wäre ich gefolgt, weil du traurig warst.</span>” <em>If I were, I followed because you were sad.</em></p>
<p>Meaning she had come from wherever she was to find him. However they were separated at birth, she never had to step foot in this place, but she came anyway and stayed for him.</p>
<p>“Das freut mich, schwester,” he smiled, happy tears filling his eyes for the second time that day. <span><em>T</em></span><em>hat makes me happy, sister.</em></p>
<p>“<span>Bruder,</span>”<span> she smiled at him. </span><span><em>B</em></span><em>rother.</em></p>
<p>He would have liked to stay there, soaking up the bright feelings he felt around her. But they were not the only ones in the room. And too much had been happening to allow them more personal time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Briana’s eyes opened and slide to the side, clocking Luther walking towards Vanya.</p>
<p>She let go of Klaus, with him nodding her along, and planted herself between him and Vanya.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?” Luther said lowly, his tone warning.</p>
<p>She shrugged, unconcerned. “Drawing your fire. Being a human shield. Getting in your way. Pick your favorite.”</p>
<p>“You wouldn’t be standing there if you knew what she’s done.”</p>
<p>“You’re right,” she conceded. “Tell me.”</p>
<p>“What?” Luther asked, not prepared for a follow up conversion. He gave his warning and expected that to be enough for her to move aside.</p>
<p>“Can clear this whole thing up right now, just tell me what happened. As long as that’s fine with you, V.” The last part she said over her shoulder to Vanya.</p>
<p>She hesitated, but nodded to go ahead.</p>
<p>Five, who had been energizing himself back to the land of the living through sheer force of will, knew there was a trip wire hidden in the offer. The Commission trained him to notice things, even things that made a point of not being noticeable.</p>
<p>This new girl was Trouble with a capital T.</p>
<p>But not so much that he’d stop her from whatever play she was putting on.</p>
<p>Allison fought down the jealousy that sparked in her chest. This stranger was being more like a sister then she had tried to be in the last week. She hadn’t even known her half a day.</p>
<p>Diego had watched his brother with his new sister. His hackles may be up when faced against an unknown, but he’d have to be particularly blunt to not see how happy Klaus felt having her here.</p>
<p>He’d still keep a knife on hand if she turned out bad though. He was not a total idiot.</p>
<p>“Well, for starters, she has powers. And ever since she found out she’s been using them to hurt people; the family. She attacked Allison and almost killed her by cutting her throat. She brought the whole house down and killed Pogo, almost took us down with it. And then she charged herself up so much the blast shattered the moon and caused the Apocalypse Dad was preparing us for. We messed up the last time, but we can stop it now.” He was proud with the speech he delivered, sure that reason would be seen.</p>
<p>“Well, that does clear things up,” affirmed Briana.</p>
<p>Just as the validation began to fill him, the soft and calm aura that had been surrounding Briana vanished and was replaced with an absolute scathing glare.</p>
<p>“You- are an absolute moron. You don’t get to make or take her choices for her. She gets to decide what she does.”</p>
<p>“So, what do you call this, your inference?” he countered.</p>
<p>“I’m not telling her what to do, merely suggesting she ignore you moving forward for her training.”</p>
<p>“There’s not going to be any training. Dad was scared of her and she’s clearly dangerous.”</p>
<p>“<em>You</em> are dangerous, with your strength and superiority. What misfiring brain cells did you rub together to think it was okay to choke out your distressed sister and lock her up in her childhood nightmare torture box.</p>
<p>“Tell me,”she demanded, addressing the rest of them. “How you all couldn’t think up one plan to knock him off his pedestal to get her out. And instead you just blindly followed a leader who went on to be apocalyptically stupid. Tell me how you even thought that trapping her in a corner trying to ambush her wasn’t going to have serious consequences?</p>
<p>“She didn’t start breaking things until you all made it very clear you wouldn’t listen to her and wanted to oppress her just like your Dad has done every day her whole life. No one here had control over their powers from the start. You got to learn how. She got a cage.”</p>
<p>Never had they been more thoroughly dressed down then this moment. Hindsight was no joke. Easier to think things through when adrenaline and terror weren’t making up the blood in your veins.</p>
<p>The rallying speech given to go and fight the Apocalypse had been ‘We’re FUBAR, but family. And there won’t be a family if they didn’t act like one.’</p>
<p>“Well, she should be back on those meds, at least,” Luther began.</p>
<p>“NO!” Vanya shrieked.</p>
<p>The floor <em>bounced</em> underfoot, leaving them scrambling to keep their footing.</p>
<p>“Bescheuert,” Brian groused. No one needed to know German to understood what that meant.</p>
<p>“I’m not going back in a cage, in any cage. I’m not going to be numb.”</p>
<p>The room was being whipped into a maelstrom, dust and debris were falling from rafters like little waterfalls. It was beginning to look a lot like when the house went down the last time.</p>
<p>“I needed you. I came for my big brother. I trusted you. You made me think you cared about me for once in my life. And you <b>LIED</b>!! You hugged me and choked me. You put me back in there! Because you’re afraid of me. You’re all afraid of me. I’ll make you afraid of me.”</p>
<p>The siblings gathered close, clutching each other tight.</p>
<p>Ben looked to Briana through the gap between his arms, raised against the harsh winds. She was just standing there watching the meltdown calmly. Seemingly indifferent to how her hair and clothes jerked and snapped against the gale force.</p>
<p>“Aren’t you going to do something to stop her?” he questioned over the gusts.</p>
<p>“She’s been repressed enough, don’t you think?” she reasoned.</p>
<p>As committed as she started out, Vanya was not as fully under as before; that rage had cooled. Meaning she was aware of the destruction around her. While she knew they were wrong to have done what they had, what she was doing now, was making them right. That by doing this, she was being deserving of that cage and that thought stopped her cold.</p>
<p>Or rather the want to do this stopped, but she couldn’t pull the power back. She was scaring herself which fed into the power making it worse.</p>
<p>“Guys. I can’t stop. Run!” Vanya warned as the studs began trembling in the walls.</p>
<p>Her vision was going fuzzy around the edges, her breathing getting thin.</p>
<p>She felt something take her hands, fingers interlocking with someone else’s. If asked the others would swear that Briana had been across the room, then the next second, she appeared in front of Vanya.</p>
<p>They made up an eerie picture.</p>
<p>While using her powers, Vanya’s eyes change drastically. The pupils became pinpricks, while the iris’s washed out from sweet brown to unsettling icy blue. She also paled to a corpse-like degree. A bright star pulsed and burned at her chest. The energy she was taking in encircled her like a vortex.</p>
<p>Briana wasn’t bothered by this, as she could change her color too. Her shifting green eyes became a molten glowing purple. And much like her brother had discovered before the time-jump, heavy use of their powers resulted in colored flames encasing their hands. While his was a deep blue, hers were a purple that match her eyes.</p>
<p>The wind lost most of its force, but it was still battering the room.</p>
<p>“What are five things you can see?” Briana asked.</p>
<p>“What?” Vanya gasped.</p>
<p>“Breath, slow. In and out. And name five things you see.”</p>
<p>Vanya’s eyes darted. “Um, potted plant. A statute. A pillow. An umbrella stand and a vase.”</p>
<p>“Good. Remember, in and out. Name four things you feel.”</p>
<p>Vanya breathed. “Your hands. My hair. My clothes. The floor.”</p>
<p>“In and out. Three things you hear.”</p>
<p>“My heart. Everyone’s breathing. The room creaking.” Which was doing much less of.</p>
<p>“Two things you smell.”</p>
<p>“Honey and dust.”</p>
<p>“And one thing you taste.”</p>
<p>“Lighting.” She wasn’t sure where that idea came from or why she knew it enough to answer so swiftly, but it was the truth.</p>
<p>The answer amused her. The room was quiet now, calm restored with only a thick layer of dust to show.</p>
<p>“Perfect, Vanya. Now I want you to do one more thing. Those five things you saw, you see them now?”</p>
<p>Vanya nodded.</p>
<p>“Good, very good. Now...blast them,” she instructed, at the same time she let go of their hands.</p>
<p>On instinct, she reacted and did just that.</p>
<p>The five objects she spotted burst out of existence as if they had been wired to a bomb. That left nothing but scorch marks on the floor. The pillow exploded in an angry cloud of feathers, that went gently to the ground.</p>
<p>“You’ve got all the raw talent there, just need to have confidence in yourself and some refining. But once we buff you up a bit, you’ll be brilliant,” Briana congratulated.</p>
<p>“If anyone is going to train our sister it’ll be us,” Luther interjected (because, of course).</p>
<p>“Well, when we tried it your way, the world ended. Not sure if I can achieve less than the Apocalypse but I’ll take my shot. But I’ll tell you what, since I’m muscling in on your group, what say we settle this in the oddest way fashionable. Trial by combat. I win, I train her. You win, you can try.”</p>
<p>This seemed a little too tipped in Luther’s favor. Even without Hargreeves’ enhancements, Luther’s power was strength and he excelled in combat practices. And while it was amazing and impressive that she could calm Vanya where they had failed, she was...tiny.</p>
<p>As in a stick to Luther’s boulder. They could easily see her growing into the willowy frame her brother would have as an adult. Frankly, she was pixie and Luther had been known to break the bones of guys three time his size at this age with one punch.</p>
<p>“Fine by me,” Luther agreed. He’d dial it back enough he’d win without hurting her too bad, but wasn’t going to pass on, in his mind, an easy win.</p>
<p>“One condition; Diego’s on your team,” she stipulated.</p>
<p>Now they were questioning her sanity.</p>
<p>Diego, with his endless supply of knives that didn’t miss and his borderline pathological drive to outdo Luther, was like adding gas to an inferno. So why the hell was she asking for them to tag team her?</p>
<p>“Why?” Diego asked, suspicious (and a little flattered).</p>
<p>“Because if I’m going to fight to win anything, I’d prefer it’d be against someone who’s actually a challenge. I’m only including Luther because if he’s not involved, he’s just going to whine about how he’d have done it better. This way just saves time in getting on with our day.</p>
<p>“Now that I’ve verbally torn you to shreds, shall we commence with the ass-kicking portion of the day?” she asked briskly, a big smile forming on her face.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndie Lauper)</em>
</p>
<p>Diego strapped in all his knives; Luther freed up his arms for more mobility. While Briana grabbed a staff, the others went to stand by the wall.</p>
<p>Diego and Luther took the left side of the mat, Briana the right.</p>
<p>“Ready when you are?” Diego called.</p>
<p>“I know what I’m doing. Who’s on first?” she yelled back, staff held behind her, loose and ready.</p>
<p>Both came charging out of their corners at the same and immediately collided and got tangled up in the other.</p>
<p>Briana tipped her head back and laughed. “I’ve seen flash mobs with more coordination.”</p>
<p>Luther broke out first, coming at her with a right swing. She ducked under his arm and sidestepped out bringing her staff around to the front and used it to hit him in the shoulder blade. Then used the momentum to swing it back behind her to deflect Diego’s first knife thrown up high, then twirled it down to ping off the second aimed at her leg.</p>
<p>With one hand Diego tossed a knife into the air. It spun around in a cartwheel a few times and then came down. He caught it hilt first and went at her with slashing arches.</p>
<p>She dipped and feinted away, the knife sending off sparks as it kept glancing off the staff until she brought one of the ends out and smacked the back of his hand hard enough, he dropped it and then swung the other end at his head. He back-flipped out of the way just in time.</p>
<p>Luther came up behind her and grabbed one end of the staff, halting further movement and leaving an opening for Diego to pin her down and finish this. No way she’d break his grip, her only options were to let go or struggle.</p>
<p>Too bad for Luther and Diego, Briana had no interest in doing either of those things.</p>
<p>With a smile she ducked under Luther’s arm as Diego charged them and with a twist of her wrist separated the staff in half, driving it into the back of Luther’s knee making him fall and topple Diego into a pile on the floor.</p>
<p>Diego scrambled out and up, staring his opponent with new eyes. Clearly, this was not doing to be as easy as they assumed.</p>
<p>“So, you’re actually good at this,” he commented, an edge to his friendly tone.</p>
<p>She shrugged. “Hey, I’m a little surprised to. Never tussled with you two before today.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, why’s that?”</p>
<p>“Because your Daddy won’t let me fight anyone. I mess up his stats. Puts a damper on his illusion Luther’s number 1 in all ways if I can kick his ass real easy. And if Luther’s not the obvious number 1 then you’re not desperate to outdo him, are you?”</p>
<p>“Don’t listen to her, Diego,” Luther ordered, shaking off the pain in his knee. “She’s just using her powers against you.”</p>
<p>“And you’re not right now? Oh, no. I forgot. It’s only okay for Allison to use her powers for her advantage, so long as you can make goo-goo eyes at her, right?” she mocked, blowing him a kiss.</p>
<p>Luther bull-charged forward. Briana flung her piece of staff at the ground. It <em>rebounded</em> up directly into Luther’s face, dazing him enough to drop his half which bounced and rolled close enough for Briana to scoop both back up and rejoin the halves behind her back and swing it forward in time to deflect Diego’s next knife.</p>
<p>His blood hot and pumping fast, not use to missing and not like it at all. Even curving them to go around her wasn’t successful. She just kept spinning and flipping her staff around her with ease blocking all attempts.</p>
<p>Suddenly, she stopped and called, “Time out.”</p>
<p>Diego was so stunned he did as she asked.</p>
<p>“What year did you come from just now?”</p>
<p>“2019?” He answered.</p>
<p>Her eyebrow flew to her hairline. “Shit,” she smirked.</p>
<p>She moved the staff into the crook of her arm and began to clap.</p>
<p>“No really. You’re very good. Much improvement from mine yesterday. The technique is flawless. It’s just, sixteen years and you’re still making the same hotheaded mistake.”</p>
<p>“Yeah?” Diego growled.</p>
<p>“You throw all your weapons away.”</p>
<p>He looked and saw he had thrown his whole arsenal in an attempt to hit her scattered around her feet. Now there was nothing to put between them and that damn stick of hers.</p>
<p>“Shit.”</p>
<p>She grinned. “Time in.”</p>
<p>She hit one end down propelling a knife up and swung the other end around like a golf club sending the knife sailing right at Luther and Diego, who had to scatter and scurry out of the way.</p>
<p>For next minute, a windmill of blades was being sent at them. Diego tried to pull one out, but it was too stuck in the wall.</p>
<p>Diego preferred fall back if he ever found himself without his blades was kicking. And apparently some other Diego liked to do the same, because Briana was onto his game and didn’t leave him enough room to make any hit effective.</p>
<p>By now, Luther had shaken off the head-shot and joined him in an all-out attempt to gang up on her. She worked her weapon with unparalleled precision and skill. Separating and rejoining as needed, twirling it fall mast to block, redirect and most importantly beat the holy shit out of them. And unlike her opponents who had to get miraculously lucky to even nick a sensitive spot. She was making full-contact hits to their kidneys and diaphragm, till they had to retreat, gasping and sweating with layered over pain.</p>
<p>One particular shot caught Diego’s jaw and sent him flopping onto the floor where he stayed. He wasn’t knocked out, though he could have been, if that what Briana really wanted.</p>
<p>Diego took the out, done with it. While still a little flattered by the acknowledgment of his own fighting skills, this fight wasn’t about gaining the training rights to Vanya. This wasn’t about showing how capable she was, or earning their favor.</p>
<p>He was fine with her helping and fixing what he and the family broke with Vanya. If it wasn’t too damaged, maybe that she would come back to them and they could keep salvaging this.</p>
<p>But Luther had defiantly been her target from the start.</p>
<p>She had been softening the blows she landed with Diego. If she did feel what she claimed, then she knew the guilt felt by them all at failing to protect Vanya, their little sister, from Luther.</p>
<p>She was going to help Vanya no matter the deal or anything said. But if she was riled up with secondhand rage and betrayal that she wanted to smack sense into Luther, Diego would leave her the floor.</p>
<p>Luther was currently clutching and gasping through a solid hit to his stomach. Those hits always <em>hurt</em>. “Without that stick, you wouldn’t last a minute. Drop it and let’s see how you really fight,” he challenged.</p>
<p>With a bow, Briana held the staff out in front of her. Then started to slowly, but quickly picking up speed, twirling it around one handed. Her fingers threading and spinning the staff like a top. She kept the motion up, leaning to the left then to the right, continuing behind her back as she transferred it to her other hand and holding it out in front again. Only then did she do as Luther asked and actually dropped it.</p>
<p>As soon as her hand left the staff, she took off at a dead sprint to Luther’s right. Once he realized he had been played, he booked it after her.</p>
<p>He closed in quick, almost had her in arms reach when Briana leapt up and kicked at the wall to spin her around and land on Luther’s shoulders. While he flailed about at the sudden weight, she swung around and settled with her thighs clamped against his neck, her ankles locked, and began choking the air out of him.</p>
<p>The siblings had spent long hours in training on how to get out of holds for just these situations. But Briana not only knew all the holds and releases, but also how to get it done quicker. Like by applying pressure directly over his artery cutting off air immediately. A lack of oxygen meant the specifics of getting out faded fast.</p>
<p>Gray and white spots popped and burst around his eyes, black creeping in. Just before he was sure he’d pass out he was able to gulp down a desperate gasp of air.</p>
<p>Before he could begin to wonder why he was let go, a cold voice in his ear hissed, “That’s how Vanya felt.”</p>
<p>The nerve of this stranger not only beating him, but condemning him for an event they hadn’t even been present for.</p>
<p>He lumbered up, letting blind momentum charge him at her back.</p>
<p>Contrary to what Luther and everyone’s warning shouts thought, Briana knew the fight wasn’t over yet. She hadn’t released him because he taped out, Diego was the only one to have thrown in the towel. Meaning she was already on her way back to reclaim her staff as Luther lunged after her. The swing connected solidly with his jaw.</p>
<p>He was blinking out the second wave of spots as she stood over him, that damn staff of hers in his face. “You yield,” she commanded.</p>
<p>He opened his mouth to argue, only to snap his sore jaw shut when with a click a frighteningly sharp blade distended from the end stopping an inch from his face.</p>
<p>“Now.”</p>
<p>He ceded her the match. He couldn’t win against her when it was just a stick, never mind a spear.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p>She retracted the blade and swung in behind her back, before offering him a hand up.</p>
<p>“First of many bouts,” she mused.</p>
<p>“It’s it too early to be very proud twin bro?” Klaus asked cheerfully.</p>
<p>“No such thing,” she winked.</p>
<p>Luther grumbled, “Still not okay with this. Everyone just going to keep ignoring the fact we have a stranger wondering the house.”</p>
<p>“Technically, you are in my house. I’ve been here for nine years, you all been here for about six hours.”</p>
<p>“Fact still remains. Who are you?”</p>
<p>“I’m not a fan of speed dating.” she evaded. “We’ll cozy up to each other in time.”</p>
<p>“Which is something we may not have a lot of,” Five interjected.</p>
<p>Finally up enough be playing his new role as harbinger of vague ominous warnings.</p>
<p>“Meaning?” Allison prompted.</p>
<p>“Meaning, the Commission had people that looked into these kind of pop ups. The smallest changes and snap decisions got logged and filed. If they didn’t want it to happen or it happened in way they didn’t want, they sent people like me to fix it. What we did, multiple events, backwards not only in time but to a possible alternate timeline they don't want on the books.” He scoffed. “If a week was a thorn in their side, this is the whole rose garden.</p>
<p>“So, we need everyone ready for whatever Correction Squad they might send after us. That’s means Vanya has to be ready, and right now she’s our best shot at making that happen.” He hissed as the failure at everything he set out to do burned bitter in his mouth as he gestured to Briana.</p>
<p>“We still could have tried,” Luther attempted.</p>
<p>“No, Luther, we couldn’t. We’ve hurt her more in name of help then she has with us.”</p>
<p>Unbeknownst to the others, Ben had been feeling weird for a while. At first, he chalked it up to getting used to living again. But then it turned to pain. Pain he hoped would go away only for it to begin pulsing sharply in his guts. Before he could get out a word of warning, the Them, the monsters that used his stomach as a portal, emerged and shot out towards Briana.</p>
<p>So unprepared for such an event, everyone floundered to call out before They reached her.</p>
<p>Then there was only a high-pitched screech.</p>
<p>But no splash of blood, no smell of viscera.</p>
<p>Just the sound.</p>
<p>Which wasn’t screaming in pain or horror. But laughter. The Them were roaming around Briana, not griping and ripping apart but...<em>tickling?!?</em></p>
<p>“Hello, lovelies,” she greeted between giggles as They moved against her neck.</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <b>Lovelies!?!</b>
  </em>
</p>
<p>There was nothing remotely lovely about those bloodthirsty wrath tentacles!</p>
<p>“Um, Briana you okay?” Vanya sounded like her old timid self.</p>
<p>“Of course,” she assured, watching as one coiled around her arm.</p>
<p>“You know you’re making Ben uncomfortable.” She chided Them lightly.</p>
<p>There was a deep digestive echo from Ben’s chest. He was so distraught; he was shaking horribly. Which in turn was upsetting the siblings. Never was there a good thought to be had when thinking about Ben and Them in the same thought.</p>
<p>“Yes, I know he doesn’t let you out besides missions, but you have to play nice because without him you're not getting let out at all.”</p>
<p>Suddenly, her brow furrowed, eyes locked on them, sweeping the group.</p>
<p>“What is-” She cut herself off with a ragged gasp before her face went ashy white and her eyes rolled back in her head and swayed backwards. She likely would have collapsed if the Them were not so encased around her. They quickly propped her up.</p>
<p>Klaus and Diego made to rush over and check if she was alright. Only to skid to a halt at her call of “Don’t!”</p>
<p>They could only watch as she visibly gathered herself back together, as she heaved for breath.</p>
<p>Reginald had waved off and justified his death, but Ben had not like being left to watch his family mourn and rip themselves part. Being left adrift and stuck with a self-destructive brother. Just because he understood the need for Klaus’ drug use, didn’t make it any easier seeing life squandered. On that, he shared his anger with the many spooks and ghosts that tormented his brother.</p>
<p>Losing Ben had ripped something inside all of them. The wounds so raw it was still tender to think about thirteen years later. It was just too painful to think on. Being reminded was too much for one to feel, there was no accounting if you could feel it times seven.</p>
<p>“Um, uh, Glitter. Parks at sunset. Oh, those hilarious animal’s outfits, where the front have makes them look like a person but their ass is hanging out.” Klaus ranted manically.</p>
<p>Diego blinked, wondering what insanity seized his brother. “<em>What the hell </em>are you talking about?”</p>
<p>“Trying to lighten the mood so she won’t have, like an aneurysm or something,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Is that even how it works?” Allison asked.</p>
<p>“Close enough,” Briana slurred.</p>
<p>The Them retreated back into Ben as she got her feet under her.</p>
<p>“Danke, Klaus.” She took a deep collective breath, and made her way towards the exit. “Come with me.”</p>
<p>“What are you doing to do?” questioned Ben.</p>
<p>“Same thing I’ve been doing since I came here; fixing Reggie’s tragedies.”</p>
<p>
  <em>(End credits music)</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Unashamed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If this was the Netflix version, Briana would be Emily Rudd. I tried my best make this as visually stunning as the show. Main focus was the masterful choices in music. I tried to get the details and flow right for this chap, let me know how you like it. Kudos and comments are my validation.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">
  <em>(Superstition by Stevie Wonder)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">The place was a crypt.</p>
<p class="western">People may call it a house, but it was not meant for the living to dwell within its walls.</p>
<p class="western">Everything was dim and cold, from the colors of the walls and floors to the off-putting decor. Even with all its big windows the suns warmth couldn’t reach this place.</p>
<p class="western">Even a fan of the macabre and gloom, as Briana was, she could not like this place.</p>
<p class="western">She had known coming here would not be a pleasant experience, but came all the same because from half a world away she had felt her brother’s unease.</p>
<p class="western">Unease that had less to do with the house and more with the glowering figure behind her.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Very superstitious, Writing’s on the wall</em>
</p>
<p class="western">She had accomplished an impossible task in his mind. The waves of frustration and anger already rolling off him would have swelled if he knew how easy it had been on her end to gain entry. He was not as invincible as he believed himself to be.</p>
<p class="western">Lucky for her she had come well versed in locking her knees against such dark emotions thrown at her.</p>
<p class="western">“Vhat is bruder’s name?” Her English was remarkable in one so young, having only begun learning just a short time ago. Not that Sir Hargreaves would ever be impressed by anything he had not made himself, and even then, he would not waste the time.</p>
<p class="western">He would never demean himself by having his face scowl, but he’s displeasure was as clear to his new guest as if he had.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Very superstitious, Ladder’s bout’ to fall</em>
</p>
<p class="western">“The boy is called Number Four.” His dictation was as groomed as his posh appearance.</p>
<p class="western">The child’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Is not name.”</p>
<p class="western">“It is more than sufficient enough. If you are to remain here you will address him and others as such.” His eyes were as steely and cold as his words. “Suppose you will require one as well, so as to not cause any disruption.”</p>
<p class="western">If he believed this was going to put her off, he was sadly mistaken. Her heels were already dug in before the door was knocked.</p>
<p class="western">She smirked. “I have number.”</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Thirteen mouth old baby, Broke the lookin’ glass</em>
</p>
<p class="western">Such a difference a decade makes. A lot of things change and some had stayed maddingly the same.</p>
<p class="western">Briana had kept up with having her claws in without appearing that she had any at all.</p>
<p class="western">She had heard of living a whole lifetime in one day, and overnight that was exactly what happened. Her companions of already troubled dispositions had gone and gotten more mess up and crammed down into the ones she saw yesterday.</p>
<p class="western">For all the failings of the Umbrella Academy, being weak was not one of them, no matter what that bastard Hargreeves thought. It was a wonder no one was curled up in a ball of drool and tears on the floor if they weren’t as strong as they were.</p>
<p class="western">As it were, Briana was barely hanging in under the emotional onslaught pelting her.</p>
<p class="western">There had been many times over the years, in fits of pike, she wished time would move faster. Because time was the only thing that would make them see sense. That once they were older, their own adults, they’d see the house for what it was and not what they wished.</p>
<p class="western">Careful what you wish for, indeed.</p>
<p class="western">Everyone had followed after she left the training room. They made their way to a least traveled and disused side of the house. Being rich meant having more room than knowing what to do with.</p>
<p class="western">In light of all that had happened; Ben being alive, Vanya’s powers, being back home at thirteen,<em> being</em> thirteen again. The new possible sister, who felt able enough to refer to their dad and all-around terrifying bastard, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, as ‘Reggie’, was the only thought pulling ahead in their minds.</p>
<p class="western">As much as they thought little of him and utterly hated him, they had never called him something so derogatory, even quietly to each other.</p>
<p class="western">While siblings mulled and processed the new events and old times they’d landed in. Diego was hung up on how little Briana reacted to most things. Vanya’s outburst, the efficient way she took down Luther and him, the Them bursting forth and Five’s time rant.</p>
<p class="western">She just took in everything without question, just in stride. To him, that was more a red flag then her being there.</p>
<p class="western">“So, are you just not ask about anything that’s been happening?” Diego probed.</p>
<p class="western">“Wasn’t planning on it,” she answered idly.</p>
<p class="western">“So, none of that downstairs needs an explanation for you?”</p>
<p class="western">Coming to a door at the end of the hall, she slumped down to take off her shoes. Pawing at the laces, she stated, “As far as the time travel bits are concerned, I’m sure it’s long-winded with a lot of numbers and Greek letters that if you stare at it long enough you can see a giraffe making out with two anteaters. Lots of tongue.” The last part was more murmured to herself.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus gave a delighted clap as his sister proved as zany as him.</p>
<p class="western">“As for you all, that I’ve already worked out.”</p>
<p class="western">“Really, how so?”</p>
<p class="western">“Not telling.”</p>
<p class="western">That sent them all spluttering like a bad engine in indignation.</p>
<p class="western">“I don’t much mind when, how or why you’re here. That you’re here at all means there’s an emotional deluge about to drop on my head. And I’d weather it better if I know you have a big enough bone to gnaw on. So start chewing.”</p>
<p class="western">She opened the door to reveal the most bizarre and tangled display they’d ever seen in this house.</p>
<p class="western">The flooring, if there was any, was covered in a thick layer of dirt with patches of moss spread around like natural area rugs. The whole roof and ceiling had been torn off and replaced with gossamer tent top.</p>
<p class="western">Every four feet of wall space was done up in a different theme. If there were shelves, they were filled to the brim with either books, or crystals or a whole inventory of things gathered from plants or off the forest floor and put into jars with their names written on the label in calligraphy.</p>
<p class="western">There was bundles of sticks laying in a pile waiting to be made into wreaths or a tee-pees it seemed.</p>
<p class="western">And candles, so many candles, of all colors and all sizes in varying degrees of melted.</p>
<p class="western">There were these repurposed and modified coat racks whose job it was, was to hold drying herbs or a twinkling array of jewelry.</p>
<p class="western">Rich colored velvet swatches and coils of short rope lay scattered about on the many low desks dotted around the main area of the room. Where they co-mingled with the abundant empty vials and bottles and the endless supply of bowls filled with salt and shiny rocks.</p>
<p class="western">Stars and pentagrams and these weird stark and looping marks denoted on every available surface.</p>
<p class="western">Basins of water stood in each corner of the room. A tall potted bush tree shivered by the open window where mason jars of water were being warmed in the rising sun. It was artful in a way in that the clatter didn’t earn the title of disorganized.</p>
<p class="western">She dipped hands in one basin by the door and flicked the water off before going to a table and lit a candle sitting there. She stared at the flame and the smoke trail with a thoughtful frown.</p>
<p class="western">Navigating the room was ease, she gathered up some herbs, a different colored candle and a ball of string. She ignited the new candle before binding the herbs together and then lit them with the candle and waved it around, murmuring all the while.</p>
<p class="western">Most of the Academy stayed gathered at door, mystified by it all.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus found himself wondering around, gravitating toward similar things he’d had collected in his own room. Some of the same markings dotted around were drawn on the walls by his bed. There was a certain calm and comfort he felt in the room. He toed his shoes and socks off by the window contemplating the water jars that looked so interestingly refreshing.</p>
<p class="western">And they were. The water ran cool down his throat but filled him with a warmth, reaching the tips of his fingers and toes that curled pleasantly in the dirt, when it hit his stomach, like he’d drank hot coco on a winter’s day. He added a little paper umbrella he’d spotted on one of the tables to his drink to add to his enjoyment.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">Five got his wits back first and asked, “What are you doing?”</p>
<p class="western">She looked up at them, holding a smooth gray stone with a hole in the center over her eye. She tossed it back into the bowl with the others and dove deeper into her table sit up without a word.</p>
<p class="western">“Has a New Orleans occult shop not thrown up enough aesthetic in here? My baby sis is a gorgeous wicked witch,” Klaus exclaimed.</p>
<p class="western">Briana blushed bashfully at the praise. “I love Marie Laveau.”</p>
<p class="western">“I thought you were an Empath?” Allison asked.</p>
<p class="western">“That’s one part of a larger whole. A witch’s power is usually manifested in one unique way to the witch herself. Overtime as her connection grows it branches out into similar advancements. The more on-brand craft you’re familiar with; the spells and potions, charms and the such, are mine to embrace as I like.”</p>
<p class="western">“Very little you don’t like from the look of it,” Diego pointed out, still taking in the room.</p>
<p class="western">“I’m very good at being a witch,” she teased.</p>
<p class="western">The Them eked out again swooping in close to Briana. Everyone lurched back, while she smiled and sprayed them with a plant mist bottle. Whatever it was must have tingled because They wiggled, pleased at whatever was in it.</p>
<p class="western">Deciding They would stay out, They began exploring the area. They threaded around the items on the desk, branching out like spilled ink. Two smaller tentacles loomed over close to her head. They didn’t miss a beat when she undid the tie out of her hair so the tresses cascaded down her back and They dove in.</p>
<p class="western">It was startling for Ben to see Them, the things that dubbed him The Horror, do something so soft and gentle. Up to now only ever seen Them dismembering and splattering people against the walls. Now here They were braiding hair, handing Briana glass bottles out of her reach as she worked on something.</p>
<p class="western">“Why do They like you so much?” Ben voiced the question on everyone’s minds.</p>
<p class="western">“I sneak into your room at night and feed Them. They enjoy the company.”</p>
<p class="western">“Isn’t that invasive?” Allison asked.</p>
<p class="western">“Is that a moral argument from the girl who once Rumored me into getting her a sandwich?” The words had more bit then the tone.</p>
<p class="western">It said a lot that she didn’t dismiss the act as that of another her. Because that was <em>exactly</em> the kind of petty thing she did well into adulthood.</p>
<p class="western">Chastised at reminder of herself as a kid, she murmured. “I’m not that person anymore. I’m sorry I used you like that.”</p>
<p class="western">Fathomless green eyes stared at her, not needing to change color to prove if the emotion behind the words were true or false. “Apology without change is just manipulation. But you grew up good, Ali. Still mad though.” She assured as her eyes shifted to the curious duo who figured if the Them could look around, so could they.</p>
<p class="western">“It’s in your best interest not to touch things,” Briana cautioned</p>
<p class="western">Diego paused in his tilting of a bottle with clear liquid inside. The whole place looked benign enough, but then so did voodoo dolls until pins started stabbing it.</p>
<p class="western">“It’s just powder,” Luther brushed away, lifting said jar up to the light. “What could happen?”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, if you stick your face in there; respiratory distress as your lungs fill with liquid, cough, sweating from high fever, possibly death in 36 to 72 hours.”</p>
<p class="western">The group shifted uneasy at her graphic description.</p>
<p class="western">“Having fun in my poison section?” she grinned.</p>
<p class="western">The two put down what they were holding and jump away like the jars were snakes.</p>
<p class="western">“Why do you have that?” Luther demanded.</p>
<p class="western">She shrugged. “Novelty item? Thrill of danger close at hand? Tactical retreat/defense plan? I’m sure I don’t know, but better to have on hand.”</p>
<p class="western">“Why’d we come here if all we can do is stand and watch?” Diego groused.</p>
<p class="western">“A witch has her familiars.” Was her cryptic reply before clicking her tongue.</p>
<p class="western">It turned out to be a summons call, as several squirrels like creatures glided out from the tree. It hadn’t been moving from the wind and the chatter and chirping thought to be outside noise was from the critters rustling around.</p>
<p class="western">Their sudden appearance spooked the Them back into Ben.</p>
<p class="western">A quick roll-call introduced the adorable, pocket-sized, flying snugglers, aka sugar gliders.</p>
<p class="western">Cher, an all-white one with black jeweled eyes was burrowing into Klaus’ neck. A sweet, rose blush colored one named Willow laid itself out on Ben’s head. Nibbles, a light colored one with a hard to see gray pattern in his fur was dancing around Vanya’s shoulders. Bandit, who’s coloring could be confused for a raccoon, was fiddling with Diego’s knife straps. The golden toned Merlin was fascinated with Alison’s bouncy curls. A pair of peach colored ones claimed a nest in Five’s jacket pockets. They were twin gliders named Lilo and Stitch. And then there was Brutus, an average gray one that was noticeably larger than the rest was watching Luther. He was further described as a big brother, protective of his joeys.</p>
<p class="western">“Guess your luck with the furries only lasted one night, huh, Big Guy?” Klaus teased, seeing his brother strike out on getting the fluff-ball to come to him.</p>
<p class="western">“Shut up,” Klaus,” Luther grumbled.</p>
<p class="western">“What’s that?” Vanya asked.</p>
<p class="western">She had already demolished the Academy and was on her way to her concert, when Klaus broke the news of Luther’s tryst as the family hid out in the bowling alley.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, he just finally hid his banana in a panda's fruit salad.”</p>
<p class="western">Briana wheezed with laughter and pure mirth. “I loved every part of that sentence. Hot damn, Luther, I may like you yet!”</p>
<p class="western">Hearing the name of his new furry friend, Klaus couldn’t help himself from cooing a few bars of ‘I Got you Babe’. When Cher actually chirped her name-sales part back at him, he dissolved into warm hysterics.</p>
<p class="western">The siblings were more than entertained by soft furries. Content to play and tease them with their toys and fed them more sugar then even their names could handle while the witch brewed.</p>
<p class="western">As the sun rose the gliders energy waned just as Briana was finishing up. “Alright, joeys, bed time. They’ll be back tonight.”</p>
<p class="western">As the last returned to their tree, they saw what she had been working on, an odd-looking meat lay piled in a bowl. The smell must have called to Them because They made a beeline for it. Only to get whacked with a spoon.</p>
<p class="western">“We talked about this; small bits. Don’t need to know what it’ll look like if you choke and die in there.” Briana scolded.</p>
<p class="western">But she didn’t make a move to feed Them, instead she reached out to Ben her eyes aglow, asking. With his hand in hers she linked Ben to the creature inside him. As formidable as They were in a fight, as all in attendance knew this well, Ben could now feel beyond that, to this helpless fragility like a shivering baby bird.</p>
<p class="western">A back and forth began.</p>
<p class="western">Ben had never liked being used as a means to call They forth. He didn’t like killing and brutality at all, it always broke pieces of him away every time he was asked/ordered to. Only asked of him because of Them and so he grew to hate on top of fear.</p>
<p class="western">Likewise, the Them were aware of their host and came when Ben called to protect him at first. But They were never acknowledged without violence either training or in mission. They could feel his hatred at Them which hurt and angered Them because all They did was what he asked and helped him. Feeling only hatred for Them made Them angry and reckless with the portal. Until one day while out on a mission with Luther he called them forth and <b>RIP</b>.</p>
<p class="western">That was why the Them had reached out to Briana seeing her as a means to fix the connection between the two. They were sorry for what They’d done. They wanted a second chance to be Ben’s friend. And he wanted to try to be better.</p>
<p class="western">“Can I?” he gestured to the bowl. Feeding Them, having Them eat so daintily, was so surreal, it made bubbles of giddiness pop in Ben’s stomach.</p>
<p class="western">Enraptured by scene, no one noticed that some were less entranced by the moment.</p>
<p class="western">Luther had drawn aside Diego and Allison to talk.</p>
<p class="western">“We need to keep an eye on her,” Luther warned. No need to guess who had his guard up.</p>
<p class="western">“Why? She’s been nice so far,” Diego rebutted.</p>
<p class="western">“That’s exactly what we thought about Harold Jenkins. And look how that turned out. At least he only went after Vanya. This one has already got half the family on her side.”</p>
<p class="western">Just for the sake of being contrite, Diego replied. “Think Five only has time on the mind.”</p>
<p class="western">Luther waved him off and turned to Allison. “If you had to, would you be up to Rumoring her into answering some questions?”</p>
<p class="western">“Can’t believe you’d ask that,” she hissed. “You know how I felt about my powers before Vanya. It’s certainly not changed now.”</p>
<p class="western">“I know it’s not fair, but we have the right to know who we’re trusting to help family.”</p>
<p class="western">“We also have the right to enjoy having our family back together.”</p>
<p class="western">“Not everything is a mission, Luther,” Diego threw over his shoulder, as he and Alison rejoined the group.</p>
<p class="western">“Not surprised Ben knows so little about Them. Reggie’s always too busy forcing down nausea to put any real effort into studying Them.” Briana mused, flicking the tail end of her braid at Them.</p>
<p class="western">“But not you?” Allison noted, still wary.</p>
<p class="western">“Mama was more Addams then Brady. We shared a love of mystical and dark things. It’s sheer dumb luck it set me up for my powers so perfectly later on.”</p>
<p class="western">“Your birth mother?” Luther questioned.</p>
<p class="western">“Klaus came first, but yes.”</p>
<p class="western">“Why would you come here if you had her?”</p>
<p class="western">Her face was troublingly smooth. “I don’t talk about my mom here. It’s not fair to you.”</p>
<p class="western">“Tell us anyway,” Klaus shyly encouraged.</p>
<p class="western">She bit her lip before giving in. She could never deny her big brother anything he asked.</p>
<p class="western">“Mom is amazing. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in strength of spirit. She’d have to, to survive having us. She was fifteen and natural kids would have been a complication. She handled two surprise kids a lot better than most.”</p>
<p class="western">Luther, never missing a chance to be the bull in a china shop, asked, “So why’d she give up Klaus?”</p>
<p class="western">The look on her face said Luther was better off having licked one of her poison jars. Her hand made an odd flexing motion in his direction as her lips twisted into the beginning snarl of a word.</p>
<p class="western">“Because she didn’t give him up. Our Gran was the one who seized that despicable offer. We had to be cut out. Mom almost died having my brother. And because no one knew what the hell was going on, they didn’t think twins were possible and I almost killed her and myself. While she was under the knife again that’s when Hargreeves took my brother.</p>
<p class="western">“Better to be late then sold, Gran would have doubled down had we both been there. Instead, she had to resign us to the woods in disgrace, ashamed of her ‘demon-loving’ family. Upside to that is, I grew up sandwiched between opposite sides of the emotional scale. And when Gran died, I came here and had a reunion on that slime’s dime.” She finished with a rueful smile.</p>
<p class="western">“I’m sure Dad was thrilled to have you join us,” Luther attempted.</p>
<p class="western">“Mein Gott, nein,” she denied, vehemently. “I had no interest in anything he was after. And he had no use for me. My powers are emotions and emotion-based, or as that bastard calls it ‘nonsense’. He thinks they’re a weakness for one; never mind someone that not only has to have her own, but gets pulled off in the direction of those around her. He made it clear that he did not want me when I was born, and he did not want me here now. I had to blackmail him to stay here.”</p>
<p class="western">“You what?!” The whole group shouted.</p>
<p class="western">“It’s wasn’t hard. Like I said, the set up was perfect. At four I knew how to play into someone’s emotions to get what I wanted. I had already conquered the female version of him; boobs, dusty estrogen and vitriol in all.”</p>
<p class="western">They were utterly disturbed by the imagery those words conjured in their minds.</p>
<p class="western">“Now I just butt heads with one equipped with the same self-destruct button all guys have.”</p>
<p class="western">The boys all shied away from her as discreetly as they could.</p>
<p class="western">“I wanted to stay here. There had to be more reason than me having a power he didn’t want to turn me away. He wanted special children. And once he acquired them, he dropped off the radar. So, the question was, why be so public in his pursuit and then vanish? It’s because he’s hiding something, something he doesn’t want revealed, not yet at least. He needs it to be hidden. He’s got a secret. So, I told him the worse thing someone with a secret can heard from their hidden place in the dark. I told him ‘I know’.”</p>
<p class="western">“Know what?” Klaus asked, absorbed in the tale as was everyone else.</p>
<p class="western">“’Everything’. Best part? I didn’t know much of anything, but by saying I did, that I’m a part of the secret, he let his guard drop and didn’t hide it as well as he should and ratted himself out. Then I did know and he had to let me stay.”</p>
<p class="western">“Fantastic,” Five exclaimed, too impressed to bother masking it.</p>
<p class="western">“What’d you find out?” Ben wondered.</p>
<p class="western">A dark fog fell over her face. “More than I thought.”</p>
<p class="western">Vanya pipped up. “Was it me?”</p>
<p class="western">“Not at first. What happened to you was before my getting here. And what everyone feels is so complex and different, that I didn’t see anything wrong with what I felt from you. Only recently, I found out you had powers. Turns out Reggie only works on two things in life his backhand and keeping secrets. And I paid dearly to learn yours.</p>
<p class="western">“And bought or not, living under his roof gives him carte blanche to smack you around like he owns you,” she summed up candidly deadpan. “He and I have been locked in a very sprightly game of homicide chicken to see who’ll kill the other first ever since.”</p>
<p class="western">“Where were you when Luther thought one of us had killed the old man?” Diego commented. If he thought he was boisterous about his disdain for the bastard, on this he didn’t mind being number two on.</p>
<p class="western">There was a sharp clatter, glass knocking dangerously hard against other fragile things on the table. Briana turned to them, stunned with a manic gleam in her eyes. “He’s dead? How? Say it slow, no, with an accent. I don’t care, just tell me.”</p>
<p class="western">“He killed himself to get us home to stop the Apocalypse,” Ben answered.</p>
<p class="western">Alison and Vanya let out duel shocked denials. Having not been at the house for this announcement, and with the Apocalypse following swiftly after, they were the only ones not to know.</p>
<p class="western">“Heard it straight from the prick horses’ mouth,” Klaus reported.</p>
<p class="western">“Wait a minute,” the Witch interjected. “You’re saying he killed himself to get you all together to the stop Apocalypse, and it happened anyway?”</p>
<p class="western">Well, when it was laid out like that, made it sound more embarrassing. But, yeah.</p>
<p class="western">Briana tapped at table with a wide smile curling at her lips, her eyelashes fluttering in bliss as she slid down to lay on the floor.</p>
<p class="western">“What are you doing?” Vanya asked, bewildered.</p>
<p class="western">She released a deep contented sigh. “Basking in a multiple afterglow. We mix Crystal and Dom Perignon tonight. This is better than an evening in cow-gone wrapped in Egyptian cotton sheets on a sunset beach.”</p>
<p class="western">“That good, huh?” Klaus crowed.</p>
<p class="western">“<em>Glorious</em>. That self-important bastard can’t do anything right!” she cheered.</p>
<p class="western">“That’s a bit much, don’t you think?” criticized Luther.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh-ho, no it isn’t.” She countered gleefully as she pulled herself up. “He’s not smart. Sure, he can build a self-aware evolving AI nanny robot and turn a chimpanzee into a faithful Renfield. But he didn’t even try to find two brain cells to put towards your number names.”</p>
<p class="western">“What’s that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p class="western">“The numbers are in order of purchase and he never bothered changing them.”</p>
<p class="western">“That’s not true,” Luther swiftly denied.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, it is, I read it.”</p>
<p class="western">Luther’s frown deepened. “You broke into his office.”</p>
<p class="western">“’Broke’ is a strong and not accurate word. It’s a sliding door, for cryin’ out loud. One slow day I walked in and had myself a little rummage around.” She waved off his scandalized look. “That’s nowhere near top ten worse things I’ve gotten up to in this house.”</p>
<p class="western">“Our numbers are rank. It always has been.”</p>
<p class="western">“Where in your mind is seven less than one? By definition, there’s more of it. Rank is mercurial. You can advance to Captain; you can be demoted to a foot soldier. Yet the numbers never changed no matter the powers displayed or prowess honed.”</p>
<p class="western">“What’s your number then?” Diego inquired.</p>
<p class="western">“I am Number 13,” she stated with a smirk.</p>
<p class="western">“But there’s only eight of us,” Allison pointed out.</p>
<p class="western">“And yet, I am. It started as a joke, you know, one plus three equals four for my brother. Not to mention the power move of announcing yourself as the bad luck number when you muscle your way into the house.”</p>
<p class="western">“Your dubious means of coming here aside, Dad would have tested you,” Luther said.</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, he did. You’ll notice I’m not wearing the uniform.”</p>
<p class="western">She wasn’t. Their clothing options wouldn’t expand beyond the uniforms until after their fourteenth birthday. It had been their present.</p>
<p class="western">And here she was, dressed as she like, with an unlikely number and on a first name (cutesy nickname) basis with their dad.</p>
<p class="western">“Numbers aside. Dad’s always made it clear I was the leader.” Luther professed haughtily.</p>
<p class="western">“And a fine leader you are,” she drawled with a high degree of sarcasm. “You looking down your nose at everyone like they’re beneath you. That you believe you outrank anyone with your simple strongman, carnival sideshow act. Against a reality wrapper, a time and space jumper; who’s a math genius to boot, a summoner of the old eldritch gods, and a necromancer?</p>
<p class="western">“And now Vanya has proven she can throw you through a wall without touching you with just a snap of her fingers. Why do you think I think it's such bullshit that Diego is made to feel lesser then you? Your trick is always a just straight shot punch. He has the major achievement of overcoming that stutter of his, on top of <em>curving</em> anything he likes. Food fights automatically get more intense.”</p>
<p class="western">Diego looked very intrigued by the idea.</p>
<p class="western">She shouldn’t be saying these things to them, especially not Luther. They couldn’t handle the reality when she knew them yesterday and they’d proven to not be able to handle it today; sixteen years and a peek behind the curtain later.</p>
<p class="western">But she was pumped up. Most of them had finally amassed enough ‘screw the old man’ venom and she was taking it all in, feeding her own disdain. Her usual diversion and tack were buried under her not wanting to tolerate the walls she kept hitting when the topic of Reggie came up. She was riding a high big enough to see over those walls, and right or wrong (mostly wrong) she couldn’t let herself pass it up.</p>
<p class="western">“He put no thought in the names, because he never spared a thought for you. He <em>bought</em> you, he branded you like cattle. He only cares up to what you can give him. As soon as you were old to develop personalities, he started playing games to fine tune you into the parts he wanted in his machine.</p>
<p class="western">“Ploys like; Inferiorities and Manipulations, Name the abuse; Emotional, Mental, or Physical, and my personal favorite Therapy!” This was accompanied with a throw down gesture and exclamation like ‘Yahtzee’.</p>
<p class="western">“He was training us for the Apocalypse,” Luther persisted.</p>
<p class="western">“Right, right, the Apocalypse he fretted ad nauseam about. The same Apocalypse he’s directly responsible for. He created the traumas in each of you that seventeen years down the way would ensure the Apocalypse would happen.”</p>
<p class="western">“Dad loved us!” Luther cried, desperate. More to have the words be the truth, then to win.</p>
<p class="western">Five scoffed at the bald lie. Diego shook his head with a hard scowl, disgusted. The rest merely looked on with varying degrees of pity.</p>
<p class="western">Briana was solemn but firm. “No, Luther he doesn’t. If he ever did, at all ever, he’d never do what he’s done to you all. If he really cared about you as people and not a means to his end. Then the Rumor wouldn’t have been ‘you think you’re ordinary.’ It would have been ‘you have control of your powers.’</p>
<p class="western">The room became so still and quiet, no one breathed. All that was heard was the shattering of a long-held illusion.</p>
<p class="western">“He didn’t say it because he doesn’t want you to be the best versions of yourself, he wants you to be his. He’s not a good man, Luther, and your blind hero worship of him, still, after all he’s done to this family is like having been on the moon, seeing the Earth, and still calling it flat.”</p>
<p class="western">A sudden loud noise filled the quiet, jolting the siblings in fright. This was not lessened when they realized what was making the sound, if anything it worsened.</p>
<p class="western">Because no one had ever heard Five laugh before. Like laugh so hard it sent him coughing afterwards.</p>
<p class="western">Five <em>did not</em> laugh, period. Never had. At most, they’d seen him grin (more like a baring of teeth), smirk sharply in triumph, or a brief chuckle. Never a full laugh all out laugh.</p>
<p class="western">“How’d you know?” Luther wondered.</p>
<p class="western">She tilted her head, confused. “Know what?”</p>
<p class="western">“That Dad sent me to the moon for four years.”</p>
<p class="western">“Did he now?” She hummed pensive. “Huh, suppose I did know.”</p>
<p class="western">“How’d you not know but did?”</p>
<p class="western">“Curse of an Empath; I know a lot of things without ever really being able to say how I do. Shouldn’t complain too bad, at least my power was being discussed before the 43. Got good array of self-help in figuring what’s going on with me,” she nodded to a more toned-down area on a shelf.</p>
<p class="western">Ever the bibliophile, Ben asked, “May I?”</p>
<p class="western">“Help yourself,” she assured with wry smile. “Speaking of knowing things, best get to fixing that.”</p>
<p class="western">“Fix what?” Vanya asked.</p>
<p class="western">For an answer, Briana threw something at their feet that exploded in a cloud of powder. When the dust cleared, they were their adult selves again. Though being grownup but still in their kid uniforms was odd to say the least. A real demented funhouse mirror of a trick.</p>
<p class="western">“Look at my big brother all handsome,” she cooed appreciatively at Klaus. “You teasing everyone with that sweet face of yours?”</p>
<p class="western">“Use to only turn it to the really delicious ones, but now it’s just for the one,” he explained sadly. “He, uh-”</p>
<p class="western">She smiled sympathetic to his plight. “I know. You’ll find him.” She slipped one of those hole stones into his jacket pocket. “When you do bring him by, I got a shovel I want to show him.”</p>
<p class="western">“Really?” he whined good-naturally.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey, I just want to make sure he’s good enough for you,” she appeased.</p>
<p class="western">“He is,” he assured, touched by her sincerity.</p>
<p class="western">Having taken his blazer off earlier, meant that Luther’s more overly muscled and hairy arms were out in full display. Even though everyone knew, he still shifted self-conscious at the exposure.</p>
<p class="western">Briana hadn’t said or looked off but the display.</p>
<p class="western">“Um, I’m sure you- uh- have some questions about...this. Me.”</p>
<p class="western">“Ah, nope,” she denied, popping the ‘p’.</p>
<p class="western">“Wait, really?”</p>
<p class="western">“I already have a negative infinity opinion on the things Reggie does here, it can’t get lower.”</p>
<p class="western">“Not that not we’re not grateful, but won’t we be hard to explain like this?” Alison pointed out.</p>
<p class="western">“Nah, the spell is only effective on the eyes that saw it cast in this room.”</p>
<p class="western">“In English,” demanded Diego.</p>
<p class="western">“Only the people who are here in this room can see it,” she clarified and held up a mirror.</p>
<p class="western">She was right; their reflections showed they were kids.</p>
<p class="western">“How come Five’s still same?” inquired Ben.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, I thought we’d finally get a view of the elusive silver fox our little brother became,” Klaus enthused.</p>
<p class="western">“Of course, magic can’t overturn a temporal equation blunder,” Five dismissed.</p>
<p class="western">“You’d be surprised what I can do. Come on, Houdini, tell the Witch what ails ya?” she invited.</p>
<p class="western">He stared her down, daring her to compete on his level. “What ails me is; I got the equations wrong when I projected my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of self that exists across every possible instance of time.”</p>
<p class="western">Briana blinked at the grumpy retort.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, it didn’t make any sense to us either,” Diego assured.</p>
<p class="western">“No, actually, that does make sense to me,” Briana countered.</p>
<p class="western">Five scoffed. “Really?”</p>
<p class="western">“You went forward into Apocalypse, but couldn’t go back from when you came, so you played a knight move by going backwards in time and forwards to when they were adults and then had to escape back to here, yes?</p>
<p class="western">“Could be the psychological effects of being presented with something the mind can’t process, so instead it reinterprets it down to a level that’s more manageable; like siblings only having seen you as a teen won’t wrap their heads around you as an adult. Tipping the collective quantum scale enough it overwrites your appearance regardless.” She pondered, her thumb brushing her lip in thought.</p>
<p class="western">She came back into focus, blushing. “Sorry, chasing a rabbit.”</p>
<p class="western">“How’d you figure that?” Five demanded, not as angry as he would have been at being outfoxed, just awed.</p>
<p class="western">“You think about time travel, a lot. The Five that was here yesterday was very close to attempting it. I’ve had near constant second-hand math headaches because of it. I can’t make sense of it like you can, but I can ease it with Doctor Who and Dark tower, you know, sci-fi.”</p>
<p class="western">“That’s fake science,” he mocked with mild scorn.</p>
<p class="western">“Maybe, but it keeps my head out of the vice.”</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Where is My Mind by Safari Riot)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">A thought latched in his mind, connecting to another and another; building to a whole. His eyes darted, running through the math to see if the idea had any merit.</p>
<p class="western">When he spoke it was unsure, hesitant. “You said the me you know hasn’t time jumped yet?”</p>
<p class="western">“No.” She was searching him for where this was going and already didn’t like the trip.</p>
<p class="western">“What day is it?” He felt his throat tighten; air became hard to breath, it felt like a live wire was sparking under his skin.</p>
<p class="western">She answered with a heavy look. “We just had our thirteenth birthdays. It’s October third.”</p>
<p class="western">He made his first jump on November tenth.</p>
<p class="western">“<em><b>Shit!</b></em>”</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>With your feet in the air and your head on the ground</em>
</p>
<p class="western">He was so mad he wanted to punch something, destroy everything in his path. He was so furious.</p>
<p class="western">Briana had been a little too tuned into him and hadn’t let go in time. The full force of his every feeling sent her head into a boneless lull around her neck, having to white knuckle the desk to keep upright.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Try this trick and spin it, yeah</em>
</p>
<p class="western">The rest may not have felt it go off, but they could definitely see the fallout.</p>
<p class="western">“Whoa, hey. Five, what is going on?” Vanya cried out, worried.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, what’s the big deal, you’ve jumped plenty of times? It’s kind of how we got here,” Diego said.</p>
<p class="western">“Being here is the problem,” Five seethed. “Just forget it, you won’t get it.”</p>
<p class="western">“Hey, stop doing that! Whatever it is we can help, but first you got to tell us what’s wrong,” appeased Luther.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Your head will collapse</em>
</p>
<p class="western">He was frustrated and mulish enough to not say anything, to just do this himself. They already proved they couldn’t detach themselves from their personal hang-ups long enough to stop the Apocalypse. But he also knew he was messed up too, so he couldn’t push all blame off on them.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>And there’s nothing in it</em>
</p>
<p class="western">He began pacing, running hands through hair. He could taste the ash on his tongue. He could feel his skin scraped raw and exposed from constant rubble rubbing against him.</p>
<p class="western">He didn’t have the energy for something this big after what he’d done. He hadn’t gotten his breath back from the last explosion. He was not ready to deal with this. He shouldn’t be asked to do this.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>And you’ll ask yourself </em>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Where is my mind</em>
</p>
<p class="western">It was too much.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Where is my mind</em>
</p>
<p class="western">“Because in avoiding the end of the word, we may destroy the universe.” Five revealed.</p>
<p class="western">Predictably, that set the group off.</p>
<p class="western">The usual cries of: ‘How’s that possible? Why? And what happened?’ filled the room.</p>
<p class="western">The calliope of noise grated against his fried nerves. He found himself looking for the personified Xanax in the room and couldn’t find her.</p>
<p class="western">Because she had moved closer, anticipating the need before he knew it himself. She had positioned herself by his side in a way that the others would only think she was emitting calm by proximity.</p>
<p class="western">When in reality, she was barely grazing a finger against the back of his hand, faint purple wisps curling around the skin, making him calm enough to talk. Otherwise, he would have been too rattled to speak at all.</p>
<p class="western">“There are laws to time. First is no two timelines can existence in the same space. The Blinovitch Limitation Effect discourages a time traveler from redoing an act they’ve already committed. Doing so would result in a dangerous discharge when two versions come in contact with each other.</p>
<p class="western">“Okay, that sounds bad.” Serious understatement from their leader. “But everything seems fine.”</p>
<p class="western">“That’s what I’m telling you and you’re not understanding. We, the future selves, collided with our past shelves, and we rewrote over our younger self. We put ourselves in this timeline. The discharge has already happened. Any more damage and the universe will implode.”</p>
<p class="western">“Okay, so we just don’t jump anymore,” Vanya put forth.</p>
<p class="western">“That’s the problem, if I don’t jump when I did the first time, we’ll cause a paradox. And after the hole we just left, it will rip the universe apart.”</p>
<p class="western">“A paradox? Aren’t those, those weird false truth things,” Klaus questioned. When everyone looked at him, surprised, he clarified. “Hey, I’ve watched a little Doctor Who too. Well, the one with sexy hair and trench coat at least.”</p>
<p class="western">Briana grinned at the mentioned.</p>
<p class="western">“A paradox for us now is if you send information back in time that prevents the Apocalypse, but in succeeding you end up canceling out the need for anyone to come back and warn you in the first place.”</p>
<p class="western">“But wasn’t that exactly what you were trying to do before?” Alison inquired.</p>
<p class="western">“Even though time’s not linear, it has to run a course. I didn’t know the cause when I came back, but Vanya doesn’t have to be the cause and the world doesn’t have to end when it did with us. But the world will always end and there will always be an end to things. To keep the universe going…</p>
<p class="western">...I have to jump back to the Apocalypse.”</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Song plays to the end)</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'd like to thank Youtube for recommending the Safari Riot cover of the Pixie's song at the end. I thought the warning siren was the perfect why to play into Five's panic at the situation. Also thank you to those who left me kudos, each one was happy spark to my day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Just a Man: part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I opted to break this into two parts as opposed to one chapter that was longer both previous combined. Enjoy! Kudos are my favorite these days!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While Five may have moved time and space to get back to his family, he was never accused of seeing anything through rose tinted glasses. His old boss the Handler had classified him as a pragmatist. And yet he remembered only the best of his family in his time away.</p><p>So, he was more than taken aback at how much selfish assholes they’d grew into. And that was saying something as they would have said the same about Five.</p><p>Surviving in the hazardous landscape left at the end of the world alone did leave one with many means of socializing. You had to become as harsh as the environment around you otherwise it would kill you. Adding in becoming a ruthlessly efficient assassin, left very little ‘pleasantness’ about him.</p><p>The siblings had no such experience. They had continued to grow up trying to outdo the other and never got out of the habit.</p><p>Five had decided within the day of his return that none of them were going be of much help in his mission of keeping the earth spinning. Even now having narrowly avoided being collateral damage of the end of something, they still didn’t have perspective. Half of them stood around wanting to argue till someone won, and the other half stood around and waited to see who’d they follow.</p><p>Right now though, he considered it a good thing.</p><p>They were too distracted to notice Briana had gone from barely touching his hand to outright holding it, with just the right amount of pressure to be comforting.</p><p>He shouldn’t have let her get this close to him. He was the best, most lethal assassin in all of time itself. He was old enough to know that any right he had to be soothed was long forfeited when the blood began dripping from his hands. He lost the right to be cared about or for like he was a human being when his humanity had been cut from him like a malignancy; for survival as much as a consequence.</p><p>But it was nice. Nice for the one second he let it happen. Then he cursed his weakness that it happened at all. Nice was a trap he couldn’t afford to spring. It was a danger to be calmed now. It would leave him too open for later.</p><p>And the trouble was just starting.</p><p>He jerked his hand free just as Briana let it go.</p><p>“Will you all shut up!” he ordered. “I’ll handle this, I’ve been there before.”</p><p>“But that place really messed you up. You shouldn’t have to go back,” Alison fretted. Her mom tendencies out in full force.</p><p>“Yeah, you came back toting around a mannequin, for cryin’ out loud,” Klaus exclaimed.</p><p>“Do not bring Dolores into this,” Five seethed.</p><p>“Five, there’s got to be a way we can figure this out without you going back. If we just talk,” Luther insisted.</p><p>“There is nothing you can do to help me!”</p><p>“Is that also a nix on breakfast?” Briana chimed in breaking the tension.</p><p>With a look that implied Luther was having great trouble gathering the patience to deal with her, he replied, “Is now really the time for that?”</p><p>“It’s 7 o’clock, same time as always.”</p><p>“I meant that there’s no time for it.”</p><p>“According to Houdini here, we have a month and you’ve got to eat sometime.”</p><p>“Think we’ll pass this once, thanks.”</p><p>She breathed out a sharp exhale. “Fine, but you be the one to tell Grace she’s cooking for nothing.”</p><p>The manic pulse in the room changed dramatically. Like snap; and it was tentative hope.</p><p>“Mom’s here?” Diego murmured, not daring to speak louder.</p><p>Briana shot him a look, like she wanted to say his comment was low-grade stupid, but instead said. “Yeah, wh- Oh.”</p><p>She caught onto the sadness at not only seeing their house crumble in front of their eyes, but also seeing their mom still inside as it fell.</p><p>Not too long ago they’d lost her, now they were being told she was downstairs. Just another gust in the whirlwind of their lives bringing them to their knees.</p><p>“Breakfast’s not looking so bad now, huh?”</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Grace had always been there. She was the only one to show them warmth without any strings attached. They thought she’d always be there; cleaning, cooking, patching them up when things got too rough.</p><p>Never thought the day would come where they couldn’t turn around and there’d she be.</p><p>But then they left the Academy. They left her here alone with their cold father and when they returned, she had been out of sorts; forgetting what was happening around her and not fully aware as she should have been.</p><p>Maybe it would have only been an idea to turn her off. That they’d talk about it, but never have the guts to flip the switch.</p><p>But for Diego to see her like that, diminished as she was, it hurt him deeply. He could not bear to see her be so much less than herself.</p><p>Even though Pogo had restored her, he would always live with what he’d done. That he killed his own mother. And by some miracle got her back anyway. Only to lose her again.</p><p>Having to watch her be crushed by the very house she was built to serve and never left once. Being buried alive in her prison.</p><p>It was more than he could handle walking into the kitchen, smelling a delicious breakfast being made, hearing her humming softly almost tunelessly; completely human. Seeing her turn to face them with a warm smile.</p><p>There was no stopping himself from launching at her and wrapping his arms around her for a hug with Klaus and Ben not far behind.</p><p>“What’s the matter dears?” She worried, not missing a beat to enclose them in her arms.</p><p>“N-nothing,” Diego stuttered, overwhelmed. “Just needed that.”</p><p>Her smile brightened. “Well, I’ll never say no to a hug.” She squeezed them tighter.</p><p>They settled down for the golden fluffy pancakes she’d been making. As she served, her head tilted at Briana. “Bria, you look a bit pale, are you feeling alright?”</p><p>Now that it had been pointed out. Briana did look noticeably more washed out since they left her witch room.</p><p>“Long day,” she answered, subdued with her head propped up in her hand, eyes half lidded.</p><p>Grace opened her mouth, most likely to refute that the morning had only started, then seem to reboot the thought and instead asked. “Would a nice cup of tea help?”</p><p>“Please,” she slurred.</p><p>Grace bustled off to heat up the kettle.</p><p>They weren’t sure if they had reached the level to be asking after her health. There was also question of if she even thought them capable to do anything about it if they asked at all. She seemed highly self-sufficient, amazing what not cowering under a tyrant did for your constitution.</p><p>Plus, there was the whole universe may be ending and their brother condemning himself to a return trip to a literal hellscape lingering on everyone’s minds.</p><p>But letting it slide went out the window as the foulest smell imaginable rose from the kettle and punched them all in the face.</p><p>“Jeez, is something dead in here?” Alison cried covering her nose.</p><p>“Smells like we left Luther out in the sun too long,” Diego grunted, happy that his secondary power of holding breath indefinitely blocked his sense of smell.</p><p>Five and Vanya had seated far enough away they were only mildly dizzy from it.</p><p>“Are you drinking liquid skunk?” Ben questioned, his eyes watering at the stink.</p><p>“That’s actually kind of nice,” Klaus countered, sniffing the presented smoking cup of tea.</p><p>The rest of the table just wrinkled their noses in disgust and turned back to their meal.</p><p>Klaus watched as his sister took a vial from her dress and tipped it into her drink. Then added a second dash after some thought.</p><p>Because Klaus was already merrily taking in the scent, he caught the sharp bitter almond smell coming from the bottle. And froze up.</p><p>The smell was <em>not</em> an added flavoring. Being well-versed in chemistry before his array into the drug world, he knew that what she was adding was in no way recreation.</p><p>“Herz-hälfte,” he murmured (<em>half-heart/soul</em>). Once he got her attention, he continued quietly in English. “Is that cyanide in the tea?”</p><p>“Mm,” she hummed, swirling the drink around. “It’s good with henbane.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Powers are hard.” The answer was said with a long yard stare as she sipped the brew.</p><p>Klaus was no stranger to taking things that made the harder parts of life easier. While his poisons of choice might kill you in high dozes, her actual poisons could kill with just a pinch too much.</p><p>He questioned whether he should stop her, he was not a proper person to preach on the subject. In this case, it seemed less like why he used and more like taking an Advil for a headache. It was not doing her the harm it had him.</p><p>Just because she seemed to glide so effortlessly did not mean there wasn’t a lot that went into making it appear so. If her powers were half as demanding as his, he understood the desire to hide however it was granted.</p><p>He put his hand out, as if he’d already done it a thousand times before and did it this time by pure muscle memory. The moment her hand touched his they were trading feelings. Felt the other worn down to the bones of their being.</p><p>At the same time, they whispered “Lebensmüde.” (<em>Life-tired</em>)</p><p>He pulled her in close to lean on his side (she fit perfectly) and continued with their drink and eat their meals.</p><p>As a whole, it was a good morning. Everyone was safe and alive, the world’s end not baring down on their heads quite so speedidly. Just luxuriating in the peace offered to them.</p><p>But nice things never were made to last in this house.</p><p>“Good morning, children,” came the rich drawl of Pogo’s voice from the entrance.</p><p>There was not as sharp a reaction in Pogo’s death reversal.</p><p>While warmer in his affections with the kids, he was loyal to Sir Hargreeves first and foremost. That because Hargreeves had advanced him from a simple mammal, Pogo gave him his unyielding help in whatever ploy was laid out. Whatever was asked, Pogo had done; the right or wrong of the action never swayed the result.</p><p>Pogo was Hargreeves’ faithful enabler. Whatever abuse Reginald used as vaguely disguised training exercises, Pogo stood by and let it happen.</p><p>With Pogo’s spine essentially removed, Grace limited to only follow the programming wrote for her, and the kids never knowing they could have better than a rich abuser; leaving a very wide open space for a young witch to come in and play devil’s advocate.</p><p>“Master Hargreeves has been called away, but he shall return in time this evening for dinner. In the meantime, you are expected to continue with your training schedule. Which will be overseen by Miss Briana.”</p><p>“Why her?” Luther blurted out, shocked and offended. At the same time, Briana grumbled bitterly to herself, “You saw the exit and you didn’t take it.”</p><p>Pogo let out an exasperated sigh. “Master Luther, must we have this talk every time?”</p><p>“Maybe if you didn’t keep saying it, he’d get over it,” she offered.</p><p>“It is my hope as well as the Master’s, that one day you will cease your discord and raise to the responsibilities of being with the Academy.”</p><p>She flashed him an oily smirk. “You know, it’s so sweet how you poetically BS him into looking human. But the key to selling a lie, is to give it at least a grain of truth.”</p><p>“Miss Briana…”</p><p>“Pogo, I already had a plan for the day and it did not include being that douchetrough’s whipped errand girl.”</p><p>His lips thinned in displeasure at the language as well as the denial. “Master Hargreeves will not be pleased.”</p><p>“He never is.” She dismissed with a sip of her tea. “But don’t worry, I’m sure I can come up with something this lot can do so they don’t burn the house down.”</p><p>With a solemn shake of his head he departed.</p><p>“What was that about?” Luther demanded.</p><p>“I’m really not in the mood for cheerleading today.” She grumbled, swirling the rest of her tea, staring at the bottom. The leaves had formed an umbrella.</p><p>“You can do better than that,” she chided. Placing the saucer on top, she flipped the cup over and looked at dregs on the small plate. “Hourglass; that helps.”</p><p>“Hey! You’ve made it obvious you don’t like Dad, but you shouldn’t turn your nose up at the opportunities just because they’re from him.”</p><p>“I never turn my nose up at opportunities. I do, however, not stand down wind of a hot dumpster wafting the scent of sanctimonious propaganda in my face.</p><p>“He only let me dress myself hoping you all would go green at the favoritism and sneer at me. When those waters calmed down, he started in on the I’m in-charge kick because you wanted to be. Just another carrot some poor donkey’s never going to get. It’s all a catch 22. If I misuse a privilege you want; you think I’m ungrateful even though I never asked for it. Which just makes it worse. If I do use it; you don’t like being put under me and think I’m a bossy egomaniac.</p><p>“The reality is, if I had to be, I’m a very laid-back leader. All I ask is you all just be freaking nice to each other. And that Five takes a nap.”</p><p>Five scowled, indigent. Through his teeth, he countered, “Excuse me? I am not tired.”</p><p>She looked up from her cup, mirth dancing in her eyes before they glowed her power purple. “Are you really telling an Empath what she’s feeling?”</p><p>Yeah, he walked into that one. “I’m not taking a nap. Besides, you can’t do anything to me if you’re not touching me.”</p><p>He thought from seeing it done with calming Vanya down and seeing a link being built between Ben and the Them, that touch was factor in her power. Like math helped with his.</p><p>Though he was fighting back the urge to squirm under her heavy scrutinizing gaze.</p><p>“You know what I think…” she began.</p><p>“You have spent <em>forty-three years, </em>breaking and scraping yourself into someone who could survive the Apocalypse. Following that, you ported yourself from one kill to the next trying to buy your way home. In the last week of your when alone, you have jumped so many times it’s a wonder you were standing to attempt that Hell Mary jump you pulled getting everyone here. You have slept a total of twenty hours then, and only because you passed out, either drunk or from overtaxing yourself. And to top it all off, your three-day old shrapnel wound is oozing through your bandage.</p><p>“If you were not half as stubborn as you are, you’d certainly be dead by now. You will go to sleep, or I will put you to sleep. Whatever your choice, your head will be on a pillow within the hour, because you are <em>exhausted</em>.”</p><p>She didn’t need to tell him; he knew he was. And he was doing a fine job of ignoring, thank you.</p><p>“Don’t you think a nap would be just the thing to help you put your best foot forward for when the next wave comes?” she cajoled.</p><p>He felt this sense of vertigo, a sense of displacement, of reality not being what he thought it was. This was a feeling he hadn’t had in a long time. With his power being what it was, such feelings were well behind him.</p><p>He was still trying to shake off the fog when he heard her voice again. “…I think you look tired.”</p><p>The glow in her eyes receded back, but her words rang true. He swayed with sleepiness.</p><p>The others weren’t looking at him like he thought they would after hearing her lay out his emotions. Looking back into her eyes, she sent him a wink and a cold realization shivered down his spine.</p><p>She had said none it aloud. It had all been in his head for his privacy. If she could feel you, then you were in her range. Touch was just a high-precision focusing gesture.</p><p>The fact that no matter what he did, all his secrets, his wants and desires, his dark frustrations were laid bare at her feet whenever she wanted, didn’t scare him as it should have.</p><p>He felt safe. Something so rare and forgotten for him it had taken a moment to figure out what it was.</p><p>She <em>knew</em>, knew all the things about them they worried would make someone think they were too much to handle, or too broken to waste time on. And such thoughts never entered her mind.</p><p>She was the polar opposite of their father. Where the slightest defect or weakness was criticized and used to widen the cracks in them. She mended it and patched them up, brushing it away as coincidence so they wouldn’t feel exposed. Just wanting to see them cared for.</p><p>But kindness alone could not last in this house of pain. To stay as she had with her powers she had to have possessed a steel in her spine as well as toes of her shoes.</p><p>Reginald may have tried poison the Academy against her by granting her freedom and authority while they groveled for scrapes of his thinly positive attention. But that was not to say she didn’t have the power to be in charge in the first place. She could calm the maelstroms Vanya kicked up when she was angry as easily as shutting a window against the wind.</p><p>Five decided he liked her.</p><p>She turned to Five after rising her cup, gesturing. “Come on, Houdini, nap time.”</p><p>They found a big Luther sized obstacle blocking their way.</p><p>“Move, Kong,” she ordered. There was some snickering behind her.</p><p>“Just a minute, I want to just get some things straight,” he argued.</p><p>She answered with a straight and definitive “Nope.”</p><p>So blunt and final, so not what Luther was expecting for an answer that he could only blink at her.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>She rolled her eyes was a huff. “Alright, I admit it. The reason why I do whatever I want is because Reggie and I got our dicks measured a long time ago and he’s never recovered from the answer. And since you’re a Ken doll whenever that man is involved, I’m not even going to entertain the attempt.”</p><p>Klaus looked on so divided on how to express his glory and enthusiasm at the display he ended up just setting still. Diego was opening unashamedly flashing his side-hook impish grin for all to see. Ben was trying to burrow in the portal in his stomach with the Them to hide his own grin.</p><p>Allison and Vanya were split of whether to be concerned or amused, though definitely tickled at the scene.</p><p>Having been made to suffer through Luther throwing his weight around to force them into doing things his way at whatever time he demanded it, the past week was a brilliant example. In charge or not, she was not in habit of entertaining a fool’s errand.</p><p>Briana made a groan of pain as she rubbed at her temples. “Holy Gott, you all are loud. Sixteen years divided seven ways. I’m out. You can continue this interrogation after dinner. I need my snuggle babies to calm me down.”</p><p>“Well, I’m sorry you’re burnt out, but you should know how to moderate your power to prevent that-”</p><p>If there was any doubt against seeing someone’s fuse visibly snap, that blew up like the moon. They thought they knew a murderous look living with Diego and Five, but the way Briana’s face arranged itself was truly unsettling.</p><p>The glowing narrowed eyes and her hand curling up into a claw shape as it burst into purple flames didn’t help either.</p><p>Luther made this noise; like a short burst of air escaping from the neck of a balloon.</p><p>“Go a day without seeking Hard-asses approval like it’s your reason for living, and then talk to me about control.” He gasped out another noise. “I may not hit as hard as you, but I pack my punches.”</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Walking up the stairs to the bedrooms, Five was covertly watching the house witch out of the corner of his eye. The scene from the kitchen replaying in his head.</p><p>The others might believe it was just a snap recreation, that her patience had ground to dust at Luther’s nagging. (A sentiment shared amongst the family)</p><p>But he got the feeling (ha!) that little about her was snapped. She had claimed ignorance with the nuisances of his ability and yet rattled off accurate enough information almost as well as he could.</p><p>When she realized she had shown too much of her hand she brushed it aside.</p><p>Because any magic user, mystical or slight, knew their best tool was misdirection.</p><p>In the game of secrets and shadows their dad made them play every day of their childhood, she had the advantage of knowing the malicious intent of those around her. Everyone unconsciously illuminating their plans even with the perfect poker face.</p><p>She was also smart enough to know she needed to hide it.</p><p>But Five saw the one thing no one could hide no matter how good they were; the age in their eyes. In that regard she was almost as old he should look.</p><p>As upfront and forthright she had been with the cards in her hand, she kept the rest of the deck close the vest. As well she should. The walls had ears and Dad had at least one hook into everyone that he pulled to drag them where he wanted them.</p><p>There had been a lot of broken trust and hurt confidences, all thrown under the bus at Dad’s command. They never had the balls to blame Dad as kids, and were divided still on how bad it actually was even as adults, so the one who told was the one they vilified and shunned.</p><p>Hard to be the team Reginald preached and claimed they would never be when he was constantly sowing deceit and superiority in the ranks. No one could blab to Dad if there never seemed to be anything to tattle about.</p><p>But for all her self-preservation she had a big heart that would not let her turn from those in pain. She knew how hard it was for the others to ask for help. So, she made it easy by never needing anyone to say it, she just did it.</p><p>Like she was doing now in his room.</p><p>“Alright, give me a sight,” she invited as she set out the bottles and bundles she pulled from her pockets on his desk.</p><p>“I can do it this myself,” he protested.</p><p>“I know,” she agreed, but made no move to let him.</p><p>“I’m a 58-year-old man, I can patch myself up,” he insisted.</p><p>She stared at him for a moment longer, then a look of concern washed over her face. “Is your stomach hurting?”</p><p>“No…” he lied. Sort of, the pain came from his not eating anything the past week beyond a few peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches. The pain from his injury he had had good practice at ignoring.</p><p>Her face smoothed out to a withering glare and snapped. “Then quit your belly-aching and let me do this.”</p><p>He blamed the past week’s events draining him so much for why he did as she asked. Besides, he was not so tired he couldn’t stop her if she tried anything he didn’t like.</p><p>He sat at his old desk chair after letting his blazer, tie and vest crumble to the floor. His white shirt was half crimson from his wound. Tacky red lines had leaked down his side from the soaked through gauze. Not surprising, he’d felt the stitches pull and pop at the ambush fight at the theater.</p><p>Briana’s face gave away nothing as she watched him bite back winces and twinges of pain, clenching his hands on the armrests to mask the tremble.</p><p>She unstopped a bottle with red liquid, covered her finger over the rim and tipped it to get a dab on her finger.</p><p>She raised an eyebrow at him, asking if she could proceed. He grunted, begrudgingly accepting the help. She laid her other hand on his side to steady herself and set to work.</p><p>“<em>Sonofabitch</em>!” Five yelled in one breath. He hissed horribly at the burn and fought the urge to use his power to jump away from her</p><p>“That tickle?” she inquired mildly, her shoulders trying not to shake with laughter.</p><p>“What the hell is that shit?”</p><p>“Cayenne.”</p><p>Five blinked and gaped at her. “As in pepper?”</p><p>“As in a natural, quicker cleanser to help stop the bleeding and improve circulation. Next, I got a salve to help with the inflammation to stop infection.”</p><p>“You just rubbed a hot spice into an open wound. <em>Yeah, </em>I’m going to need that!”</p><p>“Least your humor’s intact,” she noted, as she began to spread the salve.</p><p>Eyes on the task, she asked, “You plan on staying here or are you still hemming and hawing over if this is the right timeline?”</p><p>“I’m not sure, yet. Right now, I’m just writing you off as a quirk of the universe,” he explained flatly, still mad about the pepper.</p><p>Annoyingly, she didn’t frown like he thought she would, instead she grinned. “Never been called a quirk before. What else you think of me, sweet talker?”</p><p>“You’re trouble.”</p><p>“Only when it’s amusing.”</p><p>“Don’t let that be too often.”</p><p>“You like it.” He didn’t agree that he did, but he didn’t have to anyway. “Same as the others.”</p><p>“Only family where biting someone’s head off would earn you friends,” Five commented easily.</p><p>“Are you though?” she asked. “My family, I mean?”</p><p>“We’re older. Some more than others,” he answered.</p><p>“That’s not what I’m asking. Whatever years you’ve acquired, you’re not that different from mine from yesterday. I’m asking if you decide this timeline is the wrong one. That it’s not worth you jumping to keep. What happens to the others you overwrote to be here?”</p><p>Incidentally, he didn’t believe where they were was a wrong timeline. It was either a timeline the Commission had not written out yet, or, in the wake of discovering Allison had Rumored over Vanya’s and their childhood on Dad’s orders and giving how blatant Briana defied their father. Maybe there had been another Rumor.</p><p>Whatever the answer ended up being, it was better if they did stay. It was the most ideal setup for all involved. With benefit of hindsight to lessen the trauma they could live a nicer childhood and actually form connections with their siblings. Plus, there was the added bonus of being off the beaten path enough to actually recover before the Commission tracked them down.</p><p>He said none of that, however, and instead, said. “Even if we did jump out, you couldn’t stop us.”</p><p>And with that almost threat, she stopped hiding in front of him. He saw the most of her he’d seen since he got there, and what he saw was as close to an equal as he had ever encountered.</p><p>And much like you couldn’t stop Five from going and doing what he wished, likewise you did not try to curse a Witch.</p><p>Her accent covered thickly over her words. “At four, I followed my bruder here on a feeling. I have many new tricks now. Black or vhite, good or vicked you do not vant to make an enemy of me.”</p><p>“Lick this please,” she instructed, having hidden beneath her shroud again.</p><p>Five blinked at the presented golden-brown square. His wound was easily forgettable now that it wasn’t a separate burning drum beat with his pulse. And he was feeling charitable to do as directed.</p><p>“Honey?” he questioned at the clear taste left on his tongue.</p><p>“Yes, dear?” she asked.</p><p>“Stop,” he scoffed, only slightly amused.</p><p>“Yes, little adhesive mixture of egg and honey. Good to keep what’s left of you inside where it belongs.” She deftly applied it over the wound and began gathering her things. “Alright, I’ll check that after dinner. Have a good nap, Houdini.”</p><p>“You call me that a lot,” he observed, pulling on a clean shirt. “Why?”</p><p>“Why you want to know?”</p><p>“I’ll actually sleep if you tell me.” he bargained.</p><p>She smiled. “Now, why would I call you after the greatest escape artist ever, revered for his passion to his craft, with a cantankerous relationship with occultists? …Suppose I thought it suited.”</p><p>“Does that mean, we don’t get on?”</p><p>“Well,” she said, still smiling. “He didn’t like the fake ones.”</p><p>He watched her leave before falling into bed.</p><p>A deal was a deal.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>“How are you all not concerned by that?” Luther panted. He could still feel that cavernous void, the cold dripping down his spine, his voice stolen by nightmare levels of fear.</p><p>“She’s not right in the head,” he insisted.</p><p>“Watch it,” Klaus groused, indignant. In a house of superpowers, where everyone knew he saw the dead, he was still called crazy when he talked about Ben in the present tense after his death.</p><p>“I think she’s doing very well considering we’re all unconsciously pissing her off at the same time,” Ben explained, having read about her ability over breakfast.</p><p>The first chapter had been about recognizing you were an Empath and what that meant. The rest had been about warning against prolonged time spent around toxic people. About how to keep yourself from falling to pieces in volatile environments (basically how you shouldn’t be in them to begin with).</p><p>Prompting Ben to wonder how she could stand to live in this place.</p><p>He could barely claim to have a handle on what he felt himself. He tried to sympathize with Klaus and Vanya, but it was just too much to accommodate. <em>Having </em>to feel what not only you yourself felt in this emotional ringer of a house, but also seven other dysfunctional people coming in with sixteen plus years of traumas?</p><p>He impressed she was even entertaining them this far with no signs of leaving when he would have thrown them all out the second they dropped in if he had her powers.</p><p>“So why is it my head she keeps biting off?” Luther yelled.</p><p>“Because you keep looming over her, and she doesn’t like it.” Vanya answered matter of fact.</p><p>When he tried to rebut that statement, a small wind picked up and Vanya’s eyes lightened a few degrees. Revealing to the room that not only she was a fast learner, but that she was also taking take-no-shit confidence tips from their Empath.</p><p>Klaus faked swooned in support of his new badass sister.</p><p>“I think we should all take the time to unwind. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have plenty else to talk about,” Alison pointed out.</p><p>Luther stomped off in a huffed. The boys wondered away shortly behind.</p><p>She turned to face Vanya, who hadn’t moved from her sit, waiting just for this moment.</p><p>“Is it okay if we talk?” Alison asked, unsure.</p><p>Vanya did not owe her anything. She had every right to shut her out now and continue on fine without her. But for the time she still had hope.</p><p>“I promise I’ll listen better this time.”</p><p>Vanya gave a long pause, chewing over her answer. “Same,” she decided.</p><p>Alison looked at her sister. Really looked at her this time. For the first time as she knew her, this was Vanya as she was without the numbing meds, out from under the sway of the Rumor. The difference was staggering.</p><p>There was a flush under her skin now. Her hair wasn’t laying listlessly against her shoulders anymore. It was brighter and thicker. Her shoulders had stopped curling into her chest to make her smaller. She sat different, not on the edge like she wasn’t allowed to sit anywhere long; ready to be told to leave the second the order was issued. Instead, she sat with the intention of taking up space.</p><p>This was her sister, the only sister she’d ever had. And she never realized how hollow she had looked before now. They’d been nothing but rotten to her as kids. She served as the family’s punching bag for having no powers.</p><p>When they met back up again after so long apart, all Alison spoke of was changing her life, how she would be a better person. And instead when she was trying to jump through her husband’s many impossible hoops, and Vanya offered her comfort as best she knew how, she lashed out at her. She claimed to want to be a good sister, and yet when all Vanya had asked of her was to listen, she had tried to silence her.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Alison murmured, emotion making her voice thick. “I’m so sorry for what I did. I shouldn’t have tried to Rumor you again after I remembered the first one. I was worried about Harold, and yeah, I was a little scared of you. And I was worried for you. But I was also proud. You made something of yourself without a power. You got a job and a home without cheating. You sounded wonderful on that stage. I’m sorry I was such a shitty sister.”</p><p>Doleful, misty eyes watched her as she took her confession.</p><p>After a while she gave a wane smile and said, “I think I kind of win that title by going for your throat.”</p><p>They weren’t okay, not yet. But they weren’t going to let what happened be the end for them. It was going to be the first link in their new bond.</p><p>“Okay,” she let out a teary chuckle. “You win queen bitch.”</p><p>“Think I can pull off a crown?”</p><p>“If it’s anything like that suit you wore at the concert, definitely.”</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>As tough as Diego appeared (and a lot of work went into maintaining his ruff persona), he always worried after his family. Especially Klaus.</p><p>Sweet, gentle Klaus.</p><p>He knew seeing the dead was hard for him and its broke parts of him being under their dad’s rule, despite his chaotic and lively actions to the contrary.</p><p>He tried to be understanding but he could only make it up to a point before his patience ran out. It wrenched his heart to see him gleefully fall into drugs.</p><p>Getting those frantic calls from the police station asking to pick him up. When he’d stumble in so high, he could hardly walk into his apartment at three in the morning. After giving him every opportunity to get sober, offering him help only for him to relapse; it was more than he could handle.</p><p>There was a fight, harsh words thrown like his knives, the door slamming shut and that had been the last he’d see of his brother for eight years before being called back for Dad’s funeral.</p><p>So, when Klaus left the kitchen with Ben and him, he asked, “She for real?”</p><p>He knew that Klaus had already attached himself to Briana. He just wanted to make sure he had someone more capable then him to take care of him. That hopefully, finally he’d stay sober this time.</p><p>“She feels real,” Klaus admitted. “I know it’s weird and fast. Like most of my relationships but this one- I don’t know. She makes me feel steady. And she can be as messed up as I am and I feel protective of her. Even though she can beat up people better than I can obvi.”</p><p>“Got that right,” Diego agreed with a croaked smile. “Think she’ll be up for a rematch later?”</p><p>“Sure, she’d love to throw you around again,” Ben snarked.</p><p>It was so strange to hear his voice again. Seeing as how their last hug was cut short, he pulled him in again. Not one of those one-armed manly-man hugs, no sirree. This was a full embrace. He held Ben as close to his body as he could. He brought one hand up to hold the back of his head insuring he couldn’t go anywhere. He had been taken from them once, he was never going to be taken for granted again.</p><p>“So glad you’re back, B,” Diego sighed gruffly.</p><p>“I never left,” Ben countered.</p><p>“What do you mean?” He pulled away to take in his meaning.</p><p>“I’ve been with Klaus the whole time.”</p><p>This shook him.</p><p>Klaus had ranted and raved after Ben’s death claiming that he was still there. But being so consumed with grief and mourning, and by that time Klaus was upgrading to harder drugs, he like the others believed it was the drugs and dismissed him until he stopped bringing him up.</p><p>“So. So the whole time- All those times you said something about Ben, he was there?”</p><p>“Yeah, my own lovable annoying, emotional support ghost,” Klaus cooed, blowing Ben a kiss.</p><p>“Thought your powers didn’t work if you were on something.”</p><p>“Maybe it’s because he already knew me from before. Or because I’m special,” Ben put forth.</p><p>“Maybe,” Klaus began having a few ideas of his own only to cut himself off as his hand had reached up towards his chest and enclosed around nothing. His eyes widened in panic. “No, no, no. Where is it? No!”</p><p>“What’s wrong?” The brothers wondered, worried at his outburst.</p><p>“I lost them. I lost Dave,” he admitted with tears in his eyes beginning to escape down his cheeks. His voice so sad and small.</p><p>“Lost Dave’s what?”</p><p>“His dog tags. It was all I could bring back. I had them before we jumped and they’re not here. I lost him again.” Klaus crumbled at the admission. Leaning to sob into Ben’s shoulder as Diego patted his back.</p><p>Having just lost someone special himself Diego knew it wasn’t easy losing the one you love. That with every beat of your heart their lost sliced into it like a razor leaving you a myriad of thin cuts exposed to the air making it burn brighter.</p><p>The intruder was almost on top of them by the time Diego felt them at his back.</p><p>He reached for one of his knives and threw it quick, bending it sharply around the hall corner. There was a faint groan of pain before the body hit the floor with a thud; his blade buried deep their neck. They were decked out in a heavily armored tact vest, a big gun laying useless at their side.</p><p>Diego was paying more attention to the small beeping metal ball rolling towards them, having been dropped when the knife struck.</p><p>“Get down!” he ordered jerking them both down as he dove away.</p><p>The ball exploded in a riot of sounds and blinding lights, leaving them writhing deaf and dumb on the floor.</p><p>Once the ball was used up, the dead guy’s buddies rushed to gathered them up. Their hands were jerked behind their backs and tied off, rope digging into their wrists. Sticky tape was place over their mouths. Through the spots popping in his eyes Diego saw the same treatment being extended to his brothers.</p><p>The professional squad, because they moved too well to be amateurs, forced them to their feet and bundled them off to the foyer.</p><p>Their sight cleared as they converged on the main hall and saw this was not the only group to break into the house. Other groups had descended on the Academy and captured Luther and the girls, throwing them down in the middle.</p><p>This wasn’t like the other Time Corrections Squads they’d dealt with in the past. Third time was going to be the charm and would hold no quarter. They were more heavily armed, better equipped and unbelievably efficient in abducting who they came for.</p><p>Ben had been strapped with some kind of vest that from the dim rumble underneath it was designed to keep the Them from escaping to tear into their attackers. Vanya was likewise deafened with some bulky headphones.</p><p>There were also more hitmen on the squad then any attempt made previously. The squad stood around boxing them in covering all sides with at least three guns trained on each of their heads, discouraging anyone from fighting back.</p><p>No taking chances, no being the hero. And no wild cards to play.</p><p>Thumping from staircase made the Academy kids turn and see the leader dragging Five behind him. The former Commission assassin, who was railing against his bounds like a rabid animal and would have chewed his own arm off if he wasn’t gagged. He still wasn’t fully recovered from his last jump if the faint blue around his hands that fizzled and sparked behind back was any clue.</p><p>He was deposited roughly into their circle.</p><p>Now that they were all rounded up, the leader leaned into his shoulder and spoke into the comm.</p><p>“Got them all. What’s the order?”</p><p>There was no crackle of static, only a clear breath being inhaled and then, “Kill them.”</p><p>Muffled sobs and screams grew louder, twisting and puling intensified desperate to break free.</p><p>Tears spilled down face as the futility pressed down on them as their firing squad took aim…</p><p>
  <em>Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga<br/>Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga<br/>Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga<br/>Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga</em>
</p><p>Everyone in the room froze. Their hearts stopped then rabbited at the sudden interruption.</p><p>The squad looked around searching for the source. All eyes landed on a record player sitting center on the landing at the top of the stairs.</p><p>It had not been there when Five was being dragged down a minute ago.</p><p>
  <em>I can’t stop this feeling <br/>Deep inside of me<br/>Girl, you just don’t realize<br/>What you do to me</em>
</p><p>The squad broke off into two groups. One stayed close with their target. The bigger group separated and searched the area as they approached the player checking to make sure they hadn’t missed something.</p><p>
  <em>When you hold me<br/>In your arms so tight<br/>You let me know<br/>Everything’s alright</em>
</p><p>The Commander done with the musical theater pulled his side arm out and shot it to pieces. When all that was heard was their captives panicked shuddering breathes, did he signaled the others return and finish the mission.</p><p>Everyone was looking elsewhere.</p><p>The hired guns were distracted wondering about who put the player down. The siblings were looking at each other one last time as a cruel twist of fate deemed it so.</p><p>Five looked at the floor, bitter and despondent with himself for his cowardness. But he would not look at his family if all he would see was them dying. Seeing them dead had almost destroyed him, seeing the act itself; he could never bring himself to witness it.</p><p>But he was witnessing something else.</p><p>As the only one watching the floor, he noticed that he was casting two shadows in the light of the chandelier. But the second one was too dense and moving away from his body.</p><p>It slipped silently across the floor until it stopped just behind the farthest group of hitmen. And then it rose.</p><p>A black mass stood and solidified into a cloaked and hooded figure. Their face was obscured, but he felt their eyes on him staring right back. They brought a hand up to where their face was hidden and made a shush gesture.</p><p>
  <em>I-I-I-I’m hooked on a feeling</em>
</p><p>The song continued where it left off, louder than before, no longer contained in the music horn. It rang throughout the whole room reaching every corner.</p><p>And it startled everyone in it badly.</p><p>The shadow glided forward into the line of sight, causing the closest gunmen to give an alarmed order to fire. Though they never got off one shot.</p><p>The shadow stood stoically still and made a swiping gesture. The closest hired guns dropped, but not before several muffled snaps were heard from their necks. And just like that a fourth of the invading party had dropped dead.</p><p>The others were so stunned it took a second for them to regroup, which was all the time the shadow needed to melt back onto the floor and move away.</p><p>It reappeared by the living room door. By the time they realized the target had moved and turned to aim they were engulfed in flames so white hot, they were immediately incinerated.</p><p>Half were gone now.</p><p>A few fireflies caught on the remaining squad. While they swatted trying to put them out, the shadow clinched a fist and blood poured and pooled at their feet until nothing but limp, damp clothes remained.</p><p>The last few were more resolved and harder, more seasoned then their fallen comrades. They tracked the shadow’s movements. And when it popped back up crouched in front on siblings, its back to the guns, they let lose every bullet them had.</p><p>Adrenaline high and anger at its peek, there was no stopping till the guns clicked empty. The last of the hitmen were left to gape at the sight before them.</p><p>
  <em>All the good love <br/>When we’re all alone<br/>Keep it up girl<br/>Yeah, you turn me on</em>
</p><p>Not one of the bullets hit its target, they all had pinned off and lay scattered thickly at the edge of cloak.</p><p>The shadow turned and stood with its hand held out, fingers tipped with sharped dark painted nails. Its palm down at first then turned upward, the fingers curling slowly with great fluidity into the palm.</p><p>A silent command, as the bullet shivered and lifted in to the air hovering, waiting.</p><p>
  <em>I-I-I-I’m hooked on a feeling</em>
</p><p>The hand flipped over, fingers opened, and launched the bullets back at them and hit the remaining intruders. They jerked and flailed as the bullets hit, blood splattered and spread out in dark pools when they fell to the floor.</p><p>With another sweeping gesture, it seemed as though the dust from every corner of the house came and collected around the bodies before being whipped into a tornado-like fashion, grinding and abrading the skin to the bone until all was dust again to be returned to the earth.</p><p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p><p>The siblings barely dared to breathe in the wake of such a gruesome slaughter. Fearful of the thing turning on them next, because why would such a thing help them.</p><p>Their bounds no looser then when they were first tied, they could only tremble waiting for its next move.</p><p>The shadow half turned towards them, and with a flex of its fingers, their bounds were broken free.</p><p>And then it just walked away.</p><p>Luther, instead of sitting there as stunned as the rest of them, pushed off the floor and charged at it.</p><p>He collided against its back in a full force take-down, only there was nothing solid in it.</p><p>He flopped and skidded across the floor holding just an empty cloak.</p><p>As though there had never been a person inside it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Not a Hero: Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the lateness. I had this all set, just thought it needed a few touch-ups here and there, then it all fell apart. I couldn't get anyone to talk right. And I blame Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig in Skeleton Twins for making it impossible to write a better dance moment then the one they did, but I needed their song. It was just too perfect not to have here. <br/>Kudos are the bright points of my day!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The smell of drying blood and insides that were now outsides was beginning to cling in the air, and how could it not in the wake of a such a ruthless massacre?</p>
<p>Adrenaline still sang high in the Academy siblings’ veins. This had been a narrower escape by-the-skin-of-their-teeth death then dodging the end of the world.</p>
<p>To ignore the rising gag-able aroma filling the space, they focused their remaining senses on the others. Grounding themselves in the touch of warm skin and rapid heartbeat, hearing the breath rise and fall in their lungs. It was too fast still, of course, but so wonderfully alive. A far nicer sight then what surrounded them.</p>
<p>Once it was confirmed that everyone was okay, that was when the screaming started.</p>
<p>Six different voices all asking the same questions ‘what-the-hell-happened’ and ‘who-was-that’ and each trying to do it the loudest.</p>
<p>Five was the only one not screeching like a banshee. Just stood there taking in the scene, eyes losing focus in his hasty appraisal as his heart-rate dropped back into his chest from where it had jumped into his throat when he<em> heard</em> the trigger fingers tighten.</p>
<p>Another second and he’d be witness to the end of his family. There was no comfort to be had that he’d follow soon after. Whatever measure of time that could exist in-between his family’s kill-shot and his own would have an eternity of agony to be heaped on forty-five years in a barren, desolate torment.</p>
<p>He forced himself to breath, the dust and iron in the air was sharp, but nowhere near as jolting like the ash he was used to. He recognized the tact vests and gear; their colors were only one thing in the Commission.</p>
<p>“Five, who the hell were those guys?” Luther demanded.</p>
<p>“These were the most lethal elite death squad the Commission had for rogues,” he explained absently.</p>
<p>Even Five would have gotten knocked on his ass if he had been free to tussle with them. And here they were, nothing more than smears of blood and piles of dust at the wave of cloaked shadows hand.</p>
<p>Something else moved in the jungle.</p>
<p>“Why are they after you again?” Vanya worried, breaking him out of his admiration to the present.</p>
<p>“They never stopped. Time is relative. What was a day for us was probably an hour for the order to go through. They’ll never stopped coming. Not after all the changes made and now with us being in a different timeline,” Five stated.</p>
<p>“So, now instead of just getting caught in your crossfire, we’ve all got a target on our backs. Great. Thanks for that,” Diego groused.</p>
<p>“Never thought you’d be one to turn down a fight,” Allison frowned.</p>
<p>“I would have liked more than a freakin’ day before getting our asses in thrown in another fire.”</p>
<p>“It’s a non-issue. They’re dead and we’re not,” Five rebutted.</p>
<p>“For how long though? They keep finding people to send after us,” Ben said. “Even you didn’t know where’d we end up, and yet they found us pretty fast.”</p>
<p>“I admit their response was better timed then I thought it would be.”</p>
<p>He knew the Handler had rallied the attack on the theater fairly quickly, but he thought the jump back would have them shaking their heads for at least of week just trying to pinpoint where they ended up.</p>
<p>“Could they have been tipped off?” Luther wondered, a theory forming in his head.</p>
<p>“The hell you going on about?”</p>
<p>“Just saying, there’s only one other person that knows we’re here, who we don’t know where her loyalty really is. Suspicious timing and all.”</p>
<p>Five blinked at him, his mind well boggled. “Are actually suggesting Briana is with the Commission?”</p>
<p>“Well, it fits-”</p>
<p>“No, it doesn’t, you banana-scented simp!” Five snapped. “I know the Commission. Hell, I <em>was</em> the Commission. I only had to spend a minute with her to know she’d never work for them. She’s odd and evasive, yes. She’s definitely quirky, but she’s not our enemy. So, leave the actual thinking to me, kay?”</p>
<p>Luther puffed up, his cheeks burning red hot in indignation. “Well maybe, if you’d gave us more than one word at a time about who it is we’re up against, we’d all be on the same page for once.”</p>
<p>“You already know what you need to. More then.”</p>
<p>“No, see, you already blew your shot at calling the shots when you busted in here the last time claiming you knew what you were doing. When actually, you were making it up on the fly every hour till the clock ran out. Maybe this time would go better if you included us in the planning and not just leave us to be sitting ducks for the same guys that had your ass tied up right next to ours,” Diego grumbled.</p>
<p>Five seethed and gnashed his teeth. “Well, the next time, whether I know exactly how the world will end or not, maybe you all could pull your heads out of your self-absorbed asses like I asked you to for a week and do something about. And if flaming moon rock is about to destroy all life on the planet, including us, I’ll keep my useless power of jumping out of trouble to myself and you can just throw your knives at it!”</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t say useless, just thought with all that practice you got in after you left, you’d at least be good at it.”</p>
<p>Five was spared having any of his siblings notice the crack that had splintered the mask of rage on his face as the words battered his heart, when Klaus suddenly bellowed a frantic. “Hey!”</p>
<p>His dark green eyes were almost black as they wildly darted around with a panicked look in face. “Where is Briana?”</p>
<p>“Seriously, Klaus,” Luther frowned. “We have bigger concerns here, then her. I’m sure she’ll turn up whenever.”</p>
<p>“Luther,” Klaus called lowly, oddly intense and serious. “They swept the house for us. They came with a lot of big, scary guns and were very happy to use them. So, if my sister is not worth the worry, I’ll ask again; where is Mom or Pogo?”</p>
<p>Klaus’ startling point had their lungs pricking again in cold fear. Target or not, they came with one purpose; to drop bodies.</p>
<p>The same breath that was released, the tension pouring out of them as the soft click of Grace’s heels announced her approach.</p>
<p>“Goodness, what a mess!” she exclaimed, taking in the mounds of ash, the deep scorch marks, and the blood pools with only a vague hint of frustration on her face.</p>
<p>“Mom, didn’t you hear all that?” Diego asked, worried history was repeating itself.</p>
<p>“Oh yes, such an awful fuss,” she commented, folding the discarded cloak with precision. “So nice of Briana to handle it. I’m glad that tea perked her up.”</p>
<p>“I told you she had something to do with this!” Luther exclaimed vindicated.</p>
<p>“So, she betrayed us by saving our lives?” Vanya pointed out sensibly. “If that was her, then why did she hide her face and just disappear? Why not just show up as herself if there weren’t going to be any witnesses?”</p>
<p>Luther deflated as the logic pin poked a hole in his theory.</p>
<p>“She is a witch, they have been known to summon things,” Klaus explained.</p>
<p>“Yeah, freaking demons and the devil,” Ben fired back.</p>
<p>“Hush it, Salem.”</p>
<p>Klaus smacked at Ben’s arm. Ben jabbed a finger in Klaus’ side. Thus, the two brothers devolved into a slapping and poking fight, which Diego had to break up after it was clear they weren’t stopping anytime soon.</p>
<p>“How’d she know they were coming?” Five scowled. He wasn’t wrong about her. There was nothing the Commission was capable of giving her that she could not give herself. So, either she somehow<em> did</em> work for the Commission, or whatever that thing that saved them was was already there just in case the Academy was attacked by whoever was dumb enough to try.</p>
<p>“I say we go wake her from her ‘nap’ and get some answers.” Luther proposed.</p>
<p>“She’s not sleeping,” Grace interjected, not looking up from her task of sweeping the ashes around the sticky pools. “She left a little after tucking Five in.”</p>
<p>Five crossed his arms and angled his face away to hide the heat of embarrassment at the phrasing. “I thought we weren’t supposed to leave the house.”</p>
<p>Some of the fondest points of their childhood was the thrill of sneaking out for things; donuts, candy and such. The sneaks were more thought out and more comedically complicated than some of their actual missions. And here they were hearing Briana walked in and out as the easy as the wind blew.</p>
<p>“Your father worries about you wondering around the city. Who knows what dangerous things might happen? I explained the same to Briana when she first arrived. And she came up with precautions that drop her risk by 87%, which is more than enough for her to leave as she likes. And since she’s safe, I see no need to inform Sir of her going.” She smiled mischievously, leaned in close and whispered. “We call it keeping a secret. They’re quite fun.”</p>
<p>Grace left to sweep the dust out, while they stood addled by the conversion.</p>
<p>“Anyone else concerned, she soft-balled Mom the snitches get stitches rule?” Diego muttered, not sure if he was impressed or put off by the information.</p>
<p>“I know one thing that will give us some answers,” Luther said.</p>
<p>He led them into the surveillance room. It was a little cramped, but they managed to wedged themselves in.</p>
<p>“I was already checking the video footage when I got grabbed,” he explained.</p>
<p>There were no labels in the any of the tapes. They’d have to rely on their ages to tell when they were recorded. They each took a tape off the tops of the many piles and popped them into a player. Five picked one from the bottom.</p>
<p>They pushed them in and hit play.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>The Umbrella Academy stood at attention, their spines so straight it’d make the regiment of the military jealous.</p>
<p>Their father was gathering up his bag to go off somewhere he did not deem important enough to tell them.</p>
<p>“I’ll be away on a business matter,” he stated briskly. “You are all expected to continue your training. Number 13 will be in charge of overseeing.”</p>
<p>Said Number 13, the houses Witch was reclining against a book shelf smoking from a hookah like contraption. “Always a pleasure, Gag Schnöde,” she rasped out a plumb of smoke. (<em>Vile</em>)</p>
<p>Reginald’s vexation with her was palpable through the screen. With one last threatening sweep over his ‘children’, he left with a word of goodbye.</p>
<p>Luther might not like who was in charge, but would do what was expected of him and made his way to training room.</p>
<p>Until the one actually in charge asked. “Where are you going?”</p>
<p>“To train like Dad said,” he answered.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I heard him. And I said I’d train you, but I’m picking the lesson. And today I say we work on adaption.” She explained walking over to the record player (the same one who’s fate was to be shot to pieces) and flipped the needle on the record.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship)</em>
</p>
<p>“I hardly think an enemy would resort to such nonsense,” Luther denounced haughtily over the opening drumbeat.</p>
<p>“If you think anyone out there plays by a set amount of rules. You’re kidding yourself and aren’t ready to go out in the field. Now embrace the unexpected,” she grinned as she turned the volume dial up to max.</p>
<p>She pointed at Klaus, who was eager to join in.</p>
<p>They joined hands, leaning in close before pulling apart at arm’s length and swung in a circle. They pulled the other close, bringing their arms up and around in a classic waltz form doing a simple step to one side then in the opposite. After a few beats, Briana turned under Klaus’ arm and spun out then twirled back into him. Once returned, Klaus finished with a fancy dip, both grinning the whole time like loons.</p>
<p>The twins rushed to Ben, Vanya and Diego pulling them into the space designated the dance floor and spun them around to loosen them up and join in. The formality of their previous dance lessons fell away, instead moving solely as the beat inspired them.</p>
<p>Alison dragged a red-faced Luther into the group, drawn in by the infectious mood the music brought.</p>
<p>Soon everyone danced as free as if they were alone.</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m so glad I found you, I’m not gonna lose you<br/>Whatever it takes I will stay here with you<br/>Take it to the good times, see through the bad times<br/>Whatever it takes here’s what I’m gonna do</em>
</p>
<p>Five stood at doorway watching with a scowl painted on his face at the ridiculous display. Briana broke away, trying to shimmy temp him into joining, but he was not having it.</p>
<p>After a long stare with pleading eyes, he pushed himself off the wall and with the straightest face gave single stiff turn on his heel, spinning him around.</p>
<p>But Briana brightened like it was a complex tap routine performed solely for her. She exuberantly applauded him and returned to the others.</p>
<p>Their dancing grow far less coordinated as the song went on, but to an observer there was no denying the picture they made up. They were happy, laughing and smiling, all together.</p>
<p>A family.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>“Hey, Bri,” Allison called as she and Luther entered the living room.</p>
<p>Briana looked up from a crystal formation she was placing on the window sill.</p>
<p>“We were going to sneak out for a late-night donut. You in?”</p>
<p>“Sounds sweet,” the Witch grinned. “Vanya, donut?”</p>
<p>Vanya, who hadn’t noticed if Briana knew she was in the room with her at the time, was stunned by the invite. She nodded, happy to be included in something as simple as a snuck dessert.</p>
<p>“If we wanted her to come, we’d would have invited her,” Luther objected, snidely.</p>
<p>Allison looked a little put off at him but not enough to overrule him.</p>
<p>Vanya crowed miserably at the rejection.</p>
<p>Briana glared harshly at Luther. “Well, have fun you two,” she dismissed with the fakest of cheer.</p>
<p>“Thought you were going?”</p>
<p>“Nah, I like my donuts slobber free.”</p>
<p>The two left in a huff.</p>
<p>A voice two tones quieter than a whisper spoke up behind Briana. “You didn’t have to do that, it sounded fun.”</p>
<p>“If I had to be third wheel to that train wreck, I’d slash myself just to send us off a cliff,” Briana assured. “Besides, I’d rather have a sweet with my favorite sister, anyway.”</p>
<p>“We only have Allison.”</p>
<p>“If Luther keeps whining like he does, we’ll be an even split.”</p>
<p>Vanya giggled.</p>
<p>“Come on, I know where Grace hides the treats,” Briana offered, her elbow out for the taking.</p>
<p>Vanya hesitated. “We’ll get in trouble.”</p>
<p>“Ah, but if we tell no one we did it, did it even happen?” Briana cajoled.</p>
<p>“Let’s find out,” Vanya grinned taking her arm.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>Ben was huddled away in some far-off corner in a forgotten hallway. He was shaking like a leaf in a storm, his hands flapped at his sides, unsure of whether they wanted to clamp over his stomach or not.</p>
<p>In the end, he was too fearful to go through with the action.</p>
<p>He was splattered in blood. Not his own. Never his own, always others.</p>
<p>A hard thing for a child so sweet as he, but this time had been different. As he reluctantly called the Them out for training, the portal he held under his skin had stretched thinner than ever before. It had <em>hurt</em>.</p>
<p>There was no end to it. No way to be rid of Them and no way Dad would let him not use Them.</p>
<p>He was just so scared all the time.</p>
<p>He flinched as he felt something brush his arm. He blinked to clear the thick layer of tears in his eyes and saw Briana kneeling at his side, a wet rag in one hand.</p>
<p>“Can I?” she asked.</p>
<p>Ben jerkily nodded in answer, sure his throat had locked his voice away.</p>
<p>He let her scrub the blood off him. Some of it had not been dry all the way. A fact he found out as his hand gripping her skirt had left slight smears.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” he murmured, though not letting go.</p>
<p>She smiled kindly as she wiped the last of the blood off. “Wearing black has more benefits then looking fancy.”</p>
<p>She hugged him close from behind when he was still trembling too much to move. Her hands folded over his stomach (the portal) communing with the Them as much as she was calming Ben.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>Briana was jog-pacing in the hallway.</p>
<p>One would think she was practicing wind sprints, but she wasn’t always reaching the full length on either turn. Sometimes she’d only take four steps in one direction, turn for ten in the opposite then back again to the end of the hall.</p>
<p>Finally, she skidded to a stop just off center. Her hands rose half in a halt gesture, half like she was conducting an orchestra. Her fingers flicked and twitched with purpose like she was honing in on something. She found it with a grin and took two steps back giving an exhausted Five room to flopped out of his portal unconscious at her feet.</p>
<p>It was Reggie’s usual training routine to push Five well pass the sane limit of his powers, and Five’s rebellious flare to jump as commanded but using his last to jump away from him to avoid his reprimand cool-down.</p>
<p>Briana pulled a bag from her belt and blew into it lighting it up in her purple glow before placing it on his chest and folding his hands over top. The faint glimmer enveloped him in its light as she picked him up by the ankles and dragged him in the direction of their bedrooms.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>Klaus was having a breakdown.</p>
<p>His hands went from clamping, scratching or gripping at his ears, knees and eyes trying to block out the sights and sounds of the dead. Not that that had been working past five days.</p>
<p>The training was the same as it had been, everything just more of the depressing usual. Just, too many dead people and not enough living with no sleeping in-between. Everything felt hollow and dry. The old scabs breaking where he had clawed at himself to keep everything; ghosts and feelings alike away.</p>
<p>He felt like he was about to shatter.</p>
<p>Briana came lurching through the door. Klaus jumped, his attention going to her and<em> lost</em> it.</p>
<p>All he could see was the blood dripping from her wrist to floor. The only time he saw blood these days was on the dead. In his distressed and sleep-deprived mind, seeing the blood on his sister meant that she had passed and had come to wail and haunt him like the rest of the dead did.</p>
<p>He dissolved into unintelligible hysterics’, howling apologies that she was dead, that he couldn’t help her, and that he was sorry. So, so sorry.</p>
<p>Briana cursed herself, in her rush to come comfort him from all the torment she felt him in, she hadn’t felt the pain of the cut that had set him over.</p>
<p>He was so lost in his mania; he didn’t notice the warmth coming off her as she pulled him close. He ranted and batted at her frantically until she clamped his head to her chest.</p>
<p>“Listen,” she ordered. “Listen. You hear it?”</p>
<p>Her hands lit up as she grabbed his hands forcing a little calm into him so he’d finally notice the sound of her heartbeat. “Listen to it. Nothing dead can make that sound, because it’s alive. I’m not dead. And I’m not gonna be for a long time. I promise.”</p>
<p>He looked at her with fleeting hope. She kissed the back of one hand then the other through the flames before he borrowed into her chasing her heart to hide from the ghosts.</p>
<p>Letting his little sister protect him.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>At six, Briana was helping Diego with his stutter.</p>
<p>Or rather Diego had been working on his stutter and had gotten embarrassed as she wondered in.</p>
<p>“Go aw-w-w-way,” he choked out, overwhelmed with failure and defeat.</p>
<p>“Talkink funny still?” she inquired in a heavy accent.</p>
<p>“Leas-s-s-s you can get r-r-rid of yours-s-s.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I kould,” she nodded. (She never mentioned how she could speak without it after three months of being at the Academy. She kept it purely because it annoyed Reggie to have to decode her guttural speech.)</p>
<p>“You kould as vell.”</p>
<p>“Not fas-st enoun-ngh,” he sulked. He left off the ‘for Dad’ part. But it was plan to hear.</p>
<p>“I like your shtutter. Is like you’re shtranglink zee vords, vhich is fery on brand of your personality,” she teased.</p>
<p>It amazed Diego that after mangling a whole sentence, she could say a word like ‘personality’ perfectly.</p>
<p>“W-w-want him to kn-now h-how hard it is-s. That I’m t-t-rying.”</p>
<p>A grin stretched across her lips. “Kan you imagine?” If she torn apart basic English, she butchered the hell out of it in her attempt to sound like Sir Reginald Hargreeves. “N-n-number T-t-two, s-s-shtop z-z-is n-n-nonsens-s.”</p>
<p>Diego barked out a sudden laugh. Immediately, clamping his mouth shut and glancing around to see if anyone had heard him.</p>
<p>“You try,” Briana encouraged.</p>
<p>“N-n-number Thir-r-teen, sp-p-eak p-properly f-for onc-ce,” Diego muttered quietly in a startlingly good imitation of his father.</p>
<p>Briana, impressed, begged for more.</p>
<p>The mocking went from making the prim and proper Master Hargreeves talk with the stutter he so detested, to Diego not realizing he was speaking flawlessly without it himself if at the cost of sounding like a pompous ass with Reggie’s accent.</p>
<p>Briana was howling hoots of laughter as Diego made Reggie sing out a verse of the munchkins Lollipop Glide.</p>
<p>He stopped at once as Grace came in, curious by the noise. “What’s so funny?”</p>
<p>Still giggling Briana, said, “Nothink Grace, just laughink vith my bruder.”</p>
<p>Diego was touched at the words, and reached out to ruffle the iconic witch hat on her head as an annoying brother does with one’s sister.</p>
<p>Briana leaned back. “Mess vith my hat and stutter vill become as bad a lisp like the kat and your room vill be full of tweety birds,” she warned, pleasantly.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>The screens went blue as the tapes ran out.</p>
<p>“Well, we obviously got along at some point,” Ben offered.</p>
<p>For the most part, it was just a bunch of fast forwarding for a while with nothing too interesting happening. She was there, is what it amounted to.</p>
<p>They usually caught her curled around Klaus on whatever surface they deemed comfortable enough to cuddle on. Sometimes she was sharing a quiet library with Ben, lost in their own books. Being the on of the two outcasts of the house meant she and Vanya were usually in the same room as the other. Vanya playing the violin while Briana stretched out like a cat, listening.</p>
<p>Then they found the referenced sandwich Rumor mentioned earlier. And found there was more to it than advertised.</p>
<p>Briana had to have been about nine, minding her own business when Alison came in wanting the seat, she was in. Briana was not impressed and pointed out other chairs in the room. So, Alison made her Rumor and off she went, with Alison taking the chair.</p>
<p>It was when Briana was coming back that things got disturbing.</p>
<p>They watched as her whole body locked in place just outside the room. The hand holding the sandwich began shaking, badly. Enough that the sandwich almost rattled off the plate it rested on. Convulsing like she was having a seizure she placed the plate down before it could fall.</p>
<p>Drawing in these quiet ragged gasps, she brought her forearm to her mouth, and bit down <em>hard</em>.</p>
<p>Like broke the skin hard. Blood ran and dripped down her arm as she curled into the pain without a sound. When she let go blood colored her mouth like horrifying rouge. Even with the grainy quality of the video they could tell she had done what they thought only time could do, she broke through the Rumor.</p>
<p>A fact she’d keep hidden as she kept the rouse up and completed the Rumor. As she delivered the sandwich, wet blood spilling from an open wound, Alison didn’t look up once.</p>
<p>Given the clothes she was wearing at the time and where the blood was dripping from, they connected it to the other video of Klaus believing his sister had died.</p>
<p>“Oh, God,” Alison whispered horrified at the scene. Wondering how they talked at all after this because she did not believe her younger self ever apologized for it. Feeling guilt over her Rumors was a recent thing.</p>
<p>They scrambled to find a less damning one after that catastrophe. And came across one where she and Five were sharing the library.</p>
<p>Briana was laying sideways in an armchair reading, while Five was furiously scratching out some equation that was not turning out as he wanted.</p>
<p>The longer it went on the more frustrated Briana got because he was. She kept looking up from her book, fed up with whatever was boiling over in Five and not able away from it. Until finally…</p>
<p>“Will you stop that!” she yelled.</p>
<p>“You can leave if it bothers you,” he snipped back.</p>
<p>“I was here first, you get out.”</p>
<p>“This is the only place where I can think.”</p>
<p>“What think? You’ve been cursing at the same problem for an hour now. It’s not happening.”</p>
<p>“Maybe I would if you weren’t distracting me!”</p>
<p>Briana threw her book at his head, he caught it before it hit. “You aren’t going to find it like you are. Take a break. Maybe reading a book with a plot and not theories for once will knock something loose in that big head of yours.”</p>
<p>“You’re like an old married couple,” Vanya noted, amused.</p>
<p>Five just kept watching.</p>
<p>The book she’d thrown was black with the title Good Omens written on in white. It also had a halo and a devil’s tail on it.</p>
<p>“Is this a magic book?” he sneered.</p>
<p>“It’s everything. Think even you could enjoy it,” she challenged.</p>
<p>At first, all Five did was lean away from his work and just breath. While Briana laid her head on her folded arms. But then Five got bored of doing nothing and began flipping through the book, curiosity outweighing frustration.</p>
<p>Eventually, he got into the story and indeed liked it. At one point, he chuckled, prompting her to look up and say “Witch blow up?”</p>
<p>“Good idea for later,” he replied.</p>
<p>“Good luck with that, Houdini,” she grinned.</p>
<p>And went back to enjoying the company in silence.</p>
<p>Five had gotten distracted from the first tape he picked and was about to write off as useless when it was almost at its end. The scene was black for a long time and then with a spark the foyer was illuminated.</p>
<p>Candles sat lit in a wide circle, Briana sat seated within with odd items scattered around. He called the others over to see his find.</p>
<p>This was nothing like the other time they had seen her do magic. Before in her room there had been a gentle warm and a vague softness in display and her movements. This time was sharper; lethal and dangerous. Black and forbidden.</p>
<p>She poured things from her bottles into a bowl, then cut her palm with a blade and dripped the blood into the bowl as well. Once mixed, she drew a pentagram on the floor and spoke a word they didn’t recognized until Klaus translated that it was Latin for ‘come’.</p>
<p>And come something did.</p>
<p>Four somethings appeared in the circle with her. They may at one point have been human, but that was no longer their title.</p>
<p>Dead was theirs to claim.</p>
<p>They looked like they had had varying degrees of encounters with a meat grinder. Most of their faces were chewed away; red and gnarl and horrible. Ones neck was brutally bent and broken.</p>
<p>“You see that all the time?” Diego asked Klaus, queasy at the sight in the screen.</p>
<p>Klaus nodded. “Worse.”</p>
<p>He didn’t translate what was being said next, but it was clear a negotiation was going on. Most likely that they were unwelcomed and asked to leave.</p>
<p>When the dead faces pulled into more gruesome masks and hissed threateningly at her, she didn’t flinch. Instead, she pulled a jar from behind her, the lid dangling from a rope tied around the rim as she held it out. She spoke fast and sure, the flames flickered and spat as an unseen wind kicked up.</p>
<p>The ghosts jerked and writhed against the force of the spell she wove around them. It was all useless in the end as they dissolved into dust that hovered in a cloud where their spirits had stood before flying into the jar at the Witch’s command. She snapped the jar shut the moment the last of them was collected inside.</p>
<p>She sat down with a tired sigh, the spell taking a lot out of her. Her head tipped head back to look at ceiling. “Sleep well, Klaus.”</p>
<p>While Klaus has always had trouble confronting the spooks that followed him around and had numbed himself to the point of joining the ranks of the deceased to avoid them, his sister had no such problem banishing them on her brother’s behalf.</p>
<p>One thing was becoming very clear in their watching, Briana had good reasons for keeping secrets. It was one thing if Hargreeves didn’t know how to use an Empath. If he saw the spells and the breaking of the Rumor, he would have hounded and demanded the worse of her. Being unassuming was a shield she gladly held up for his viewing so he never felt the need to exert his control over her.</p>
<p>While the videos showed them her kindness, Five noticed something his siblings didn’t.</p>
<p>Watching Briana lay down the pentagram, it confirmed a suspicion he had had since the ambush. He had not believed it in his room as she stared at him, it was her power to pick up what others felt, why would she not mirror one to better sale a threat?</p>
<p>Now he knew who roamed the jungle with him.</p>
<p>Most likely she had not told them the whole truth before because they wanted Dad’s approval so bad as kids, they would have sold out her secrets for it no questions asked. Now they were little more then strangers to her, wearing the faces of her family.</p>
<p>And Luther had made it very clear he would throw her under the bus.</p>
<p>While the ritual and the Rumor they’d seen was startling. What they watched next, there were no words for it.</p>
<p>~*~*~*~</p>
<p>Briana came into the living room seeing Vanya sitting glumly on the couch.</p>
<p>“Hey, V, where’d everyone go?”</p>
<p>She was quiet, almost shy to answer. Like she was not use to being directly spoken to. “They had a mission call-out, won’t be back till tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“So, it’s just you and me?” A wide grin spread across her face at the answering nod. “Let’s have a party.</p>
<p>“But it’s just us.”</p>
<p>“Exactly, we got full run of the house and no one stopping us. In the words of the greatest, most fabulous Queen; the time had come to get absolutely shitfaced.”</p>
<p>“What British Royal said that?”</p>
<p>“Freddie Mercury, darling.”</p>
<p>Apparently, a full-run-of-the-house party was defined by raiding Alison’s vanity and wardrobe for a fashion show and then breaking into the bar and dipping into Klaus’ stash as they made a fort in the living room out of every pillow and blanket in the house.</p>
<p>High-Vanya alternated between giggle fits and zoning out staring at dust motes.</p>
<p>Vanya blinked owlishly propped against a Persian style pile of pillows as Briana drunkenly fell off the back of the couch. She’d been trying to walk across following the elephants to where Atlantis was.</p>
<p>“You know, I wished I could be more like you and Alison,” admitted Vanya.</p>
<p>Briana had pulled herself up and furrowed her brow at her as she plopped down beside her. “Why you want to do that? You’re already amazing being you,” she countered honestly.</p>
<p>Vanya stared at her, clearly moved by the words. With her inhibitions lower than they’d ever been, she leaned in and kissed Briana.</p>
<p>It was barely a peck really. As soon as their lips touched, Vanya was pulling back mortified.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, I should – that was,” she stammered.</p>
<p>“Hey, it’s okay,” Briana assured, not the least bit put off. “You’re going to make some girl very happy one day. But it’s not going to be me.”</p>
<p>“I know. I don’t feel that for you. I mean I just- I just wanted to try it. To see what it felt like.”</p>
<p>Briana smiled and rolled to stretch out on her back. “This has been a good day. Top notch drink and weed. And we both got to kiss pretty girls,” she teased with a wiggle of her eyebrows. They both laughed.</p>
<p>“And I know just how to close this day out right; true Nirvana.”</p>
<p>
  <em>(Come as You Are by Nirvana)</em>
</p>
<p>Briana swayed around the player to the smooth beat. Her hands conducting the music, her head tipped back immersed in the music. Not noticing that in her inebriated state how her control over her magic had slipped.</p>
<p>Sparks of purple flames burst and popped as she sang the tune.</p>
<p>
  <em>Come as you are, as you were</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As I want you to be</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As a friend, as a friend</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As an old enemy</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Take your time, hurry up</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Choice is yours, don’t be late</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Take a rest as a friend</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As an old</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Memoria, memoria</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Memoria, memoria</em>
</p>
<p>The real magic of witchcraft lay not in the language of the spells or in the potions brewed. The magic came from the will, the desire; the intent of the caster. For an Empath, sometimes they’d be too involved in what others were feeling that it eclipsed their own feelings, muddling the spell. This was where Latin came in.</p>
<p>Latin had always had a strong connection between words and actions, stood to reason that when the need to focus arose its words were used to channel intent.</p>
<p>An Empathic witch, tipsy enough to not notice she’d latched onto someone as her powers slipped enough at the same time she spoke a Latin chant; had her casting a spell with unexpected results.</p>
<p>She was still swaying, readying for the second verse when she felt something brushing against her side.</p>
<p>She swatted it away but it kept coming back. She opened her eyes, only to have them widened in surprise.</p>
<p>Various objects were floating around the room. Some simply hovered in place while others were making slow turns in the air around the room.</p>
<p>“Vanya, do you know you’re doing this?” Briana asked, breathless.</p>
<p>“I don’t do anything. I’m ordinary,” Vanya denied sleepily.</p>
<p>Briana twitched minutely, her eyes turning purple as she chased whatever emotion she had picked up on. It was not a happy one. Helplessness filled her face as tears pooled in her eyes.</p>
<p>“Where’d you hear that?”</p>
<p>“I heard a Rumor,” Vanya sighed and fell asleep, the objects dropping where they were.</p>
<p>
  <em>(Video ends) (Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p>“Why would you kiss her? She’s a girl,” Luther denounced.</p>
<p>Vanya gave him a glare so sharp it was amazing he wasn’t cut to ribbons. “Like I’m taking relationship advice from you.” All they could do was stare at her. “I’m not apologizing for it,” she snapped.</p>
<p>Klaus punched the air. “Damn right!”</p>
<p>“Is that something you- are interested in?” Alison asked.</p>
<p>“I mean, maybe. Yeah. I thought about it a few times growing up, but you know how Dad took those things.”</p>
<p>“Oh no, tells us: how did he take those things?” Klaus drawled, tone dripping in sarcasm. Like he wasn’t the one to out himself as pansexual on a press show and gotten Holy Hell from Reginald when they came back home.</p>
<p>“But you didn’t do it, right?” Ben questioned. “I mean these tapes aren’t us.”</p>
<p>“They might be,” Five murmured, thoughtfully.</p>
<p>“What are you saying?” Luther asked.</p>
<p>“I’m saying, this is too easy. There’s always some kind of skip or lag when you enter a new timeline. We should have a problem melding into a new pattern. But we’re not. Because none of this is different for us. I don’t think this is an alternate timeline at all. I think we’re back in the exact same house we lived in when we were thirteen.”</p>
<p>“But how’s that possible? We just met her today,” Luther protested.</p>
<p>“Don’t be naive, Luther,” he groused. “If she can calm Vanya, befriend the Them, age you all back up, and kick the dead out of the house. She could easily write herself out of our minds.”</p>
<p>“But why would she do that?”</p>
<p>“Didn’t she say, she paid dearly to learn Dad was numbing Vanya?” Ben hazard.</p>
<p>“Where you going with this?” Diego asked cautiously.</p>
<p>“I’m just saying if she butted heads with Dad as often as she says she does and she found out his biggest secret; it’d be motive to get rid of her.”</p>
<p>“What like ‘kill her’ get rid of her?” Luther clarified. “Do you hear yourself? Okay, maybe Dad wasn’t a nice guy, but he’s no murderer.”</p>
<p>They’d be called on to test that theory sooner than they thought. From downstairs they heard Grace ring the dinner bell. She only ever rang that bell to summon everyone for dinner.</p>
<p>
  <em>Everyone.</em>
</p>
<p>Meaning, their Father was home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Defiant to the End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So...I can't write a short chapter. At. All. The plot bunnies swarm mid-editing and I can't deny them cuddles. Send some Kudos so they stay on their side of the room. Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Klaus had been on kinder acids trips then the reality he found himself in now.</p><p>Being a thirty-one-year-old man, who’s done more drugs and people then some parts of Amsterdam and a city block of France, now crammed into his thirteen-year-old gangly awkward self having to have dinner with the man responsible for his nightmares.</p><p>The one living person he feared more than his ghosts.</p><p>His father; Sir Reginald Hargreaves.</p><p>Dear old dad was as imposing as the last time they saw him.</p><p>Banefully looking at them with unnerving disgust and contempt, while at the same time waxing poetic about them being the heroes the world needed in the next breath.</p><p>A man capable of shriveling their very self to a raisin with one word, draining those around him of their will to live and any descent sense of self-confidence.</p><p>The cold, steely aura he projected turned grown adults back into children and had made children feel like they were nothing.</p><p>If the angry bastard noticed the frantic shuffling they made when they encountered more places set at the table then memory served, leaving them scrambling to figure this time’s correct placement, he made no mention of it. Which meant that, much like their general well-being or self-esteem, it was no concern of his. So long as they dispatched those he placed before them.</p><p>Unsettling and nerve racking as it was, they could almost see them getting through this with minimum grief added to their trauma.</p><p>The points for having dinner with the man whose ashes they’d poured out in the courtyard a week ago and breathed a small quiet sigh of relief at never having to be in the same room again had already been added to their bruise psyche.</p><p>Though, if given the choice, they would have taken another go at almost getting executed in the front hall again rather than be at the table now.</p><p>They were not allowed to speak at the table during meals with their father, unless...</p><p>“Number 4, where is Number 13?”</p><p>...Unless he addressed you directly.</p><p>His sharp voice cracked through the air like a whip. Klaus jumped in his seat at the attention, pinned like a bug under his father’s frigid eyes.</p><p>“Speak up,” he ordered, his gaze intensifying.</p><p>Klaus was visibly shaking with nerves, too choked to answer. The siblings looked on unsure of what to do. To stand up for their brother like they knew they should or stay silent like they were taught?</p><p>It didn’t matter if they had left the house, got jobs, had a family, lived a life out from under the Umbrella Academy. Being back here, under the critical scrutiny of their father, erased all that. Reverting them right back to their childhood mentality of seeing and saying nothing. Choosing to fend for themselves to avoid harsh treatment for themselves later on.</p><p>Being here robbed them of any progress they’d made in becoming their names and not their Numbers.</p><p>But they didn’t need to choose, the decision was made for them.</p><p>“Keep your monocle on, Reg, I’m coming.”</p><p>The Witch appeared, mused in a dusty lilac tunic, so long it was almost a dress, with a swish of her gray periwinkle skirt. The sleeve ends stretched over her hands, her thumbs peeking out the holes made in the sides. Even though she was inside she wore a blue and gray splashed circle scarf around her neck and her eyes were covered by big dark lensed sunglasses in amber glittered frames.</p><p>She held a stein that looked like it had been a mortar round in its previous life before being repurposed, if the smell was any clue, as a coffee mug.</p><p>Klaus let out a quiet shuddering breath of relief as his father’s eyes abandoned him in favor of turning towards his sister.</p><p>Reginald made a distasteful sniff at the sight. “Is that coffee, Number 13?” he questioned, his beady eyes narrowing in anger at her.</p><p>The siblings weren’t sure if she was made indifferent by prolonged exposure under the gaze, just not aware of it at all, or naturally immune to it.</p><p>It was an even three-way split as she slouched deep into her seat, wiggling to make herself comfortable, instead of making her spine snap ramrod straight like Sir demanded of them.</p><p>“It’s triple expresso with a high energy drink chaser. I figure either this will kick start my brain into canceling out the migraine I have driving nail studs into my head, or it’ll kill me. Either is preferable to my current existence,” she explained cheerfully taking a long sip followed by an obnoxious clang as the lid was flipped back over the rim.</p><p>Reginald thought the display uncouth and told her as much. “You know the rule about caffeine in this house.”</p><p>“Yesh, I don’t agree with it.”</p><p>“Regardless, you will not drink that vile concoction at this table.”</p><p>She stilled in her seat, lax muscles coiling up like a snake.</p><p>
  <em>(Bad Reputation by Joan Jett)</em>
</p><p>With one finger (the middle one) she pushed the sunglasses down to the end of her nose. Revealing a serious blood shot eye, the whole white was so red it was a wonder she was not crying a blood tear. The other eye’s lower lid had a twitch.</p><p>Pushing back against the table, her chair shrieked horribly as it dragged across the floor then stood up. She thumbed back the lid, like cocking the hammer of a gun, and tipped her head back drinking the whole mug, never breaking eye contact. Once drained she leaned on the back of the seat sending it screeching back into place with a lick of her lips and skipped out.</p><p>Reggie’s rage at her made her giddy by design. She had quickly learned that it was either laugh or cry in this house, and he was not worth her tears.</p><p>Along the way the idea had morphed into a Pavlovian response.</p><p>Still it was fun being the cause of ruining his day.</p><p>It had started small and mental.</p><p>Getting caught walking around with a potted plant before breakfast, citing that it caused violent dysentery before claiming she’d be helping Grace in the kitchen and walked away.</p><p>He denied all meals for three days.</p><p>Watching from a window as Reggie left the house, finding a guy on the street that thought Reggie was bad news and latched on to that feeling and made it bigger to trigger his fight or flight. He was a more able man who leaned towards fight and suddenly thought Reg looked like a pervert. So, she encouraged him to walk up and slug him.</p><p>She smirked through the pain as her resulting smile pulled at her split lip. Served him right for testing Diego’s announcement of being able to hold his breath by essentially trying to drown him.</p><p>The older she got the less subtle and indirect she chose to be in her rebellion. Advanced to outright walking away when he wanted to scream at her for opposing him. Ignoring him when she didn’t feel like answering to a number.</p><p>Spitting the blood, he’d had the other’s spill of hers in his face when she refused to use her powers against them for his purposes.</p><p>Grabbing that stupid cane out of his hands and breaking it apart across her knee when she was <em>done</em> having him use it against the others to express his mildest inconveniences’.</p><p>Everything started from the day he opened the door and there she stood.</p><p>Greeting him with, “Guten morgen, you did not vant me. But I kame anyvay.” <em>(Good morning)</em></p><p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>~*~*~*~</em>
</p><p>Five, like most of the Academy, had bitched and railed about the tedious lessons and unfair restrictions enforced on them by their father. But covert side looks were as loud as any of them had gotten in their disagreement before becoming more vocal as adults.</p><p>The show just put on in front of them said the reigning champion of screw-off would not settle for grouching quietly under their breath. She stood out openly against as challenger to the ruler of all around them.</p><p>And she was winning.</p><p>Five always been the bullshit caller in their memory. The one to always speak against their father. He possessed a rebellious spirit that neither the Apocalypse or Hargreeves could break.</p><p>And oh, how Reginald had tried beating it out of him.</p><p>He had no need for a strong free-thinking child that painted with broad strokes. He wanted victims that were weak and only walked at the pace he approved of.</p><p>He constantly was putting down his ideas, limiting and belittling his intellect to make Five smaller than he was to fit in the mold he wanted for him.</p><p>It was why Five had spent so many hours figuring out how he could time travel. He could spatial jump half way around the world, and had no doubt his father would find him and drag him back. Jumping through time was how Five imagined getting himself finally free of Reginald’s tiny little world.</p><p>It would explain his immediate interest in Briana. Recognizing a kinder spirit in that they saw the line they were expected to walk in this house and instead ran to the horizon.</p><p>It was just a cruel toss of the dice that his freedom would always taste like ash and blood in his mouth.</p><p>The siblings ate as fast as they could get away with without being considered suspicious. Once they were excused, they went off after their Witch.</p><p>Which turned out to not be as simple as they thought.</p><p>Her witch room was locked and Luther-proof, seeing as he almost gave himself a concession trying to ram the door open. And they had no idea where her bedrooms was. Their rooms had been ready for them when their dad brought them home. So, if Briana lived here, which now they weren’t even sure of that, she would have had to bunk elsewhere.</p><p>“Maybe Mom will know?” Vanya offered.</p><p>“And if it’s one of their secrets?” Diego countered sourly.</p><p>“Got a better idea?”</p><p>So, they gathered in the kitchen for the second time that day. Grace humming as she scrubbed at the dinner plates.</p><p>“Mom,” Alison called getting her attention. “Do you know where Briana went, we wanted to asked for her help with something?”</p><p>Grace looked over her shoulder, hands buried in the suds, her face oddly stern. “You all be gentle with her now. She’s been having a bad day with her powers. We wouldn’t want her having another drop.”</p><p>They weren’t sure what a drop was, but agreed.</p><p>“Alright, then. She’s at the pool.”</p><p>The pool was their half Olympic sized, indoor, non-heated water training area that had fallen out of daily used when they were around eight. When personal training to better hone their powers took over their routines.</p><p>The frost plate glass was shaking and rattling in their panes. No doubt caused by the deep bass from a sing being played inside.</p><p>Luther grinned, recognizing the beat. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics.”</p><p>He got the song right, but it was<em> most definitely</em> not the same artist.</p><p>
  <em>(Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Marilyn Mason-starting mid-song at guitar riff)</em>
</p><p>The trick of good cover song was keeping a balance between the original and the new spin on it. The door had only told them the original beat, but once it was opened, it unleashed the spin.</p><p>This was not the techno echo Luther was wont to blast through his speakers, nor were the lyrics sang by the melodic voice Annie Lennox.</p><p>Instead, the voice that blared into every corner of the room as well as whispered over their shoulders into their ears, was a raspy, haunting, and disturbing primal in a so-wrong but so-right way.</p><p>It was as though a monster was narrating a bedtime story in its gnashing voice before screaming out into the darkness.</p><p>Turning a sweet dream into a nightmare.</p><p>They found their witch laid at the pools edge; her hands folded across her stomach like she had been laid to rest in a coffin. She had not gotten her color back in the time it took to find her.</p><p>She looked strikingly like someone only Klaus should see. Were it not for her foot turning figure-8’s in time to the music, Klaus would have been looking around for her double.</p><p>Luther picked up the green cassette case, reading the track listings, his eyes widened in horror and threw it away like it would bite him.</p><p>“I’d ask you to leave it till my song came on, but if you didn’t like that you’d definitely not like the next two,” Briana drawled, lazily unfolding her hands and reaching one out to skim the water.</p><p>
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p><p>“How do you listen to something that awful?”</p><p>“This might surprise you, Luther, but not very one has a soul that can consume your preferred candy-coated pop-rock anthems. I need bands like those curb my impulse for anarchy and chaos. Instead of actually acting on it, I just bang my head to pounding drumline while someone drops an f-bomb. Makes me smile.”</p><p>“Thought you liked Queen, too?” Vanya asked.</p><p>“Their Royale Highness is for when I am happy and can give them the proper enthusiastic attention they deserve. I’m not happy, I’m feeling…well, wicked.” She flashed a shark grin with deliberately more teeth then necessary.</p><p>“I got into them to distract myself from you all. Sometimes I can’t stop my power latching onto afeeling. It’s been the best way I’ve found to give you privacy.”</p><p>“Well add that to the list of questionable things you do.”</p><p>Everyone rolled their eyes and settled in, recognizing Luther was about to tee off.</p><p>“Explain the kiss.”</p><p>It was reasonable to assume given all they had seen up to this point, that Briana smacked down hypocrisy, didn’t hold back on calling bullshit or unfairness. Would flat out ignore something annoying she didn’t want to deal with.</p><p>She had a nicer way of telling them to screw-off than Five did.</p><p>Instead, she floundered. “...It had good technique?”</p><p>Everyone failed at hiding their laughter as Luther’s face warmed. “What? No!”</p><p>She continued. “Definitely my second favorite. No disrespect, V. It’s just that of the three I’ve had, the first one knew what he was doing. And that third one though, ugh! Save the tongue for the Kiss tour.”</p><p>“That is not what I’m asking!” Luther screeched.</p><p>Briana glared at him. “Maybe if you were less passive aggressive, I would actually hear the question that needs answering.”</p><p>“He wants to know why you get into it with Dad?” Diego stated. All for being straight forward.</p><p>She stared up at the high ceiling, pensive. “’Why’ they ask. As though seeing this polished heathen sitting atop his high pedestal, arrogant and fat his own assumed invulnerability does not chaff one to madness? How could I not meander over to shake it and see if he’ll fall to prove his delusion false? ‘Why?’ He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him.”</p><p>The skin around her mouth pinched like she was in deep pain. Remembering that despite the impassioned way she openly loathed their dad, she hadn’t moved much more than her eyes since they found her.</p><p>“You okay, sis?” Klaus ventured, taking a sit by her head.</p><p>“I’d be better if Diego took me to the bottom of the pool and held me there, but that’s not happening. So, gonna go with; no.”</p><p>“Yeah, um, suppose we should apologize,” Vanya tried.</p><p>“Huh?” she grunted, confused.</p><p>“You know, if we’re all being too much on your powers,” Ben said.</p><p>“Never be sorry for how you feel. Besides, I like this version better. You all have gotten out of the house, gained some perspective. You’re only partially up Reg’s ass whereas yesterday, I couldn’t find anybody with a colonoscopy. Which was more than a little irritating. But I’d rather stroke out on my fellow bastard’s traumas then get stuck with the pony playing couple down the block.”</p><p>“Kinky,” Klaus leered.</p><p>“They’re eighty...and flexible.” Everyone grimaced. “Which you know, good for them. They deserve it. I just don’t want to have the <em>mental pictures</em>.” She explained with high fake agonized whine, curling up against the pain of the image and ended up rolling into the pool with a big splash and a loud gurgle.</p><p>She popped back up quickly enough and floated on her back, calmly holding Klaus’ hand like sleeping otters.</p><p>Luther cleared his throat and stepped to the edge. “Those guys that attacked the Academy; how’d you know they were coming?”</p><p>“The hourglass in my tea cup told me,” she answered.</p><p>He rolled eyes. “If you’re not going to be serious, don’t waste time our time with some ridiculous excuse.”</p><p>“Tasseography is interpretive, but not ridiculous. I don’t try to correct you anymore. You’ve long decided anything I have to say is a lie. All I can do it lay the truth before you so you can claim it as your own.”</p><p>“Meaning?”</p><p>“She put the videos out,” Vanya guessed. Briana’s sly grin said she was right.</p><p>“Sorry about the outing, V,” she apologized.</p><p>“It’s okay. To be honest, I needed the reminder.”</p><p>“Yeah, I was confused about the whole Leeroy Jenkins bit.”</p><p>“Harold Jenkins,” Diego corrected.</p><p>“My way’s funnier.” She was grinning unusually wide.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” With Klaus’ help and vague grace, she lifted herself out, hindered greatly by her waterlogged skirts.</p><p>She looked at them with interest as she was ringing herself out. “I see you all agree this is real then?”</p><p>“Maybe,” Allison hedged. “Mostly stuck on why’d we forget.”</p><p>“You lot are more receptive to the truth then before, but you’re still not ready to know all the secrets in this house.”</p><p>“Who are you to tell us that?” Diego confronted.</p><p>“I am an Empath. I <em>know</em> what will break your hearts, what will shatter your soul and send you into misery so dense you won't come out.” Her ire dimmed with a wince. “Course, the flip-side of that is I’ve gotten more personal knowledge about you then I want. I’ve ran out of the house to avoid getting more linked in to what someone felt and ended up getting caught a total stranger’s sexcapades.”</p><p>“Aw, Jeez,” Diego mumbled.</p><p>“What was so bad that becomes okay?” Ben wondered.</p><p>“Someone discovered they liked velvet…<em> A lot</em>. And I know you’ll do stuff, I just don’t want to<em> know</em>, you know? I’m still not sure how I got out of the house. I felt the thing, <em>did not</em> want to feel the thing, and next thing I know I’m on the street.</p><p>“Soon as I got back, I started looking into trying to block stuff like that out.”</p><p>She rolled her wet sleeves up to elbow, and pulled back her collar.</p><p>She shared her twin’s affinity for tattoos. Marks similar to those in her room were stamped into her skin. She pointed to one curling on her shoulder. “Made this one just to keep the Rumors out.”</p><p>“No umbrella,” Vanya noted.</p><p>“Ordinary or not, he’d have offered you one before me. But never let it be said conformity doesn’t work.” She gathered her hair away from her neck, revealing a partially opened stylized umbrella etched just under her hairline with the words ‘Es gibt so viel Schonheit im Sturm’ circling it. <em>(There is so much beauty in the storm)</em></p><p>Her head tilted like she was listening to something; her hair fell from her hand settling like a curtain over her face. “Speaking of Reggie, seems dinner was his last ‘oomph’ for a while. He’ll be leaving for the month.”</p><p>Not that she needed to tell them that. They remembered that in the month before Five’s jump their dad had hardly been home. They never knew why, but had assumed it was important.</p><p>“Fabulous, that’ll give me plenty of time to see your closest, yes?” Klaus clapped and begged.</p><p>“Haven’t been able to keep you out before, why start now?”</p><p>“Yay! Best damp sis, ever!” Klaus cheered scooping her up in a wet bridal carry and twirled around.</p><p>“Onward, steed,” she directed with a grand gesture still being held in Klaus’ arms.</p><p>“Think you mean stud.”</p><p>“You’re not wearing my stuff yet. Oh, before I forget. Five, I’ll be by later to check that wound.”</p><p>“Did you get injured?” Allison questioned, scanning him trying to find the problem.</p><p>“No, I’m fine,” Five huffed at the attention.</p><p>“Shit!” Diego hissed. “You still have that shrapnel wound and those assholes dragged you down the stairs.”</p><p>“Shit,” Ben winced in sympathy.</p><p>“When did you get a shrapnel wound?” Vanya worried.</p><p>“I said, I’m fine. Briana already patched it up,” Five insisted batting their hands away.</p><p>He figured lifting his shirt to show them was the quickest way to call a halt. Only when he did there was no wound or patch. All that remained was a slight pale scar line.</p><p>He hadn’t felt anything from his side since Briana tended to it in his room. There hadn’t even been a twinge when he was captured. He chalked up to adrenaline at the time. And now could only stare at it, amazed.</p><p>“Hmm. Never mind, then. You’re fine.” The Witch hummed satisfied with her work and left with her brother.</p><p>It wouldn’t be like last time. They weren’t thirteen, knowing nothing beyond Dad and his missions. They had gone out and discovered who they were outside of these four walls and roof. They colored in the blank spaces.</p><p>This wouldn’t be like when they returned home and had to remember how to be around each other. There was no mission to distract them.</p><p>For the first time they had a chance and the time to act like a real family together.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>
  <em>(Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen)</em>
</p><p>Vanya was making rapid progress.</p><p>She was a lot more expressive as she’d shown. She wasn’t numb or gray. She was not going to be a doormat anymore. She had her own thoughts and opinions and she’d have them heard.</p><p>With the freedom to use and test her powers, she took to it as naturally as a duck to water.</p><p>She absorbed sounds and converted them into energy. With almost thirty years of unconscious buildup it was no wonder it had all exploded out when the fog lifted. The slightest ping of unfiltered emotion bursting out like a tsunami.</p><p>A couple of times Luther’s nerves about the training prompted him to speak out, which lead Vanya to eject him from the room, knocking him on his ass.</p><p>“If you’re going to piss your sister off, duck,” Briana suggested after the third time Luther was sent rolling from the room like a tumbleweed.</p><p>Since her powers were tied with her emotions, sometimes random things just blew up. Diego took it a step further and brought her things he hated around the house to use as target practice.</p><p>It was a very supportive win-win of destruction.</p><p>Later, Vanya told them about how sometimes it rained when she was upset. Like she when stormed out of the house mad about not being included in their plans to stop the Apocalypse,</p><p>“Do you think it’s possible?” she asked.</p><p>“That would explain the lightening answer.” Briana contemplated. “But I’d wait until we get the basic’s covered. Luther’s liable to crap his pants if you set off a storm now.<em>”</em></p><p>“Hurry up!” Klaus and Diego had both pleaded immediately.</p><p>Vanya laughed at their enthusiasm.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>While Ben greatly preferred being alive again, it was not without its drawbacks.</p><p>As an ex-Casper, he often forgot that he was solid now and could not phase through things like could before. This left him walking into many a wall and hip-checking the furniture, a lot. A fact Klaus found endlessly hilarious.</p><p>In the meantime, he worked on getting into a causal use mindset to foster and better the bond with the Them. His was never considered a social power, not something that you could pull out as a party trick. And Reginald had discouraged him from using it outside of missions, thus furthering distance between the two.</p><p>If you had told Ben one day, he’d be playing catch with the Them and enjoying it; he would have thought you were insane.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Since Briana had shown a strong hold over the dead, Klaus turned to his sister for help in summoning Dave back.</p><p>Despite Hargreeves intense interest in Klaus’ powers, he had essentially ruined the boy against using them and went about completely the wrong way in channeling them.</p><p>All part the shoving a square peg into a round hole method of training he used.</p><p>He had in his efforts to use the boy’s powers dissuaded him from ever using them at all. And yes, the dead were often not a lovely arrangement of flowers to look at to begin with. Very few were approachable.</p><p>From the moment Klaus was born, he put out this call that attracted ghosts to him. And thus, followed him everywhere he went and talked all the time; begging for their old lives back and frustrated when he wouldn’t/couldn’t help them.</p><p>Sure, there were the rare ghosts like Ben; kind and gentle, almost human. They were the ones that had explained to him that what his dad was doing to him was wrong, giving him a slight advantage over his siblings; not that it did any real good. Those ghosts moved themselves on out of sadness for him.</p><p>Then there were others that were horrible in life, and death had made no change on their personalities. They taunted him all hours of the day and kept him up at night in his dreams. That’s if he managed to fall asleep to begin with. They whispered how they’d like to touch him, kill him, use him as they liked.</p><p>When he was sober and a ghost popped up in front of him suddenly, he’d flinch back. He stood braced and held himself tight just in case they appeared. He covered his ears trying desperately to block out their wails.</p><p>And since no one else could see the ghosts, all they saw was him flailing around erratically for no reason. So, they wrote him off as crazy. Using drugs later hadn’t dissuaded the notion.</p><p>Not to say no one had tried once they were older and left the house.</p><p>For the longest time Diego had tried to be there for his brother. Every fallout, every relapse, all the to and from rehabs and hospitals. Getting calls from the police to pick him up. He was there if not for all then for most of it. Until he just couldn’t any more.</p><p>He would never stop caring about him, but one day he just couldn’t hope anymore. He was tired of all the broken promises. Him giving up was what had broken them. Klaus saw it in his eyes and saved him the trouble of looking after him.</p><p>Having been the person Klaus had glommed onto after one of the many attempts at sobriety, Diego warned her not to expect too much of him. That while he would be clingy and sincere now, when the cravings got too much for him, he could take advantage of her to get his fix.</p><p><em>When</em> not, if.</p><p>“Don’t expect him to be this present all the time,” Diego cautioned. “He’s as committed as when he isn’t. He’ll flip the switch out of nowhere. Once he doesn’t want to be sober anymore, he’ll do whatever it takes. He could use you to get it.”</p><p>Briana was not the least bit bothered by the warning. “I don’t care <em>if</em> he does use me. I’d rather he did than anything else. He’s my brother. I will always try to help him and be there for him. Whether it’s keeping him sane till he learns to do it himself or catching him if he stumbles and falls. Family is never being alone and not giving them a reason to doubt that we will be. Stick around this time, Diego. It’ll all be worth it. He’s going to be incredible.”</p><p>Klaus, who had seen them sneak off, was listening at the door. There was always link between them, but for the most part Briana didn’t feed into it. She worried about getting swiped up by some stray emotion and didn’t want to drag him along with her.</p><p>But he could still feel a little from her if he concentrated, like a faint, tickling hum.</p><p>She believed in him. No one had ever considered him good enough to stay before. And certainly no one continued making an effort on him. His bridges always burned one way or another. Even Dave had left him.</p><p>He had talked about him a little to Diego after their brawl in the vet bar. And Diego had been there for him with his own lost love. But Briana had felt the exact pain he had when Dave was taken from him.</p><p>She held him tight while he poured out everything; living on the streets, Ben’s death, Hazel and Cha-Cha’s torture. He was more than a little worried his broken heart was doing to kill his sister. But she had bore through it and comforted him; letting him cry it out and drawing him a bath afterwards.</p><p>She let him in on the secret of why the bathroom was always the safest place in the house for him. She had spelled the bathroom and his bedroom with ghost protection. While the magic held in the bathroom, she had to keep redoing his room because when he was asleep his natural defenses were too low to activate the magic as opposed to when he was awake and actively avoiding the dead.</p><p>He remembered redrawing them himself multiple times both at home and wherever he went after. While he had no magic like his sister, the symbols had always given him comfort.</p><p>She walked him through some exercises, testing which would better help him channel the dead. And while he did not have the breakthrough he was looking for. He did discover something equally amazing about himself.</p><p>During one meditation session he’d felt relaxed and drifty in the ether. Until something hit his head, jerking him out of his peaceful state. He looked around to see what had hit him and found himself inches from the ceiling.</p><p>And that was how he found out he could levitate.</p><p>One day, when he was feeling particularly frazzled, the aches and wants of relapse calling louder than the ghosts, who were out in rare form. The pain of missing Dave and not even having his dog tags to comfort him, meant more crying then sleeping at night no matter how much his sister cuddled and saged him.</p><p>He lashed out at something innocuous his siblings had said, that hadn’t even been directed at him and every door in the house slammed shut with a thunderous boom.</p><p>On top of not tapping the true potential in his mediumship abilities, he had completely missed out on others entirely.</p><p>Briana gleefully took to calling him a Poltergeist in light of his new powers.</p><p>After learning what a Poltergeist was;a noisy ghost that makes loud sounds and moves objects, also capable of pinching, biting, and tripping people, opened up all kinds of fun ways to exercise his powers.</p><p>He spent a whole day making a knocking sound on Luther and Diego’s door from downstairs. Listening in on the irate sniping as they accused the other of being childish, then tripped them up as they went at the other.</p><p>He hoped that these new powers meant he was close to jumping the last hurdle that kept him from Dave.</p><p>
  <em>(song ends)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>~*~*~*~</em>
</p><p>Five was taking advantage of his family’s interest on getting actual beneficial training, to work out the most complex time problem he’d ever undertaken.</p><p>He was using the time before his jump to see if and how he could avoid spending another forty years alone in the Apocalypse.</p><p>And he had little to show for it.</p><p>Sleeping that first night back had been detrimental to his health. Having denied his body so long and finally giving it a taste of what it was craving made it demand more. Which he just couldn’t do. There was no time to waste.</p><p>The ash was laying heavy on his tough these days, seeing the rubble piles whenever he blinked. He felt the unrepentant heat from the sun, remembered those black void nights with no moon. Stars had no beauty for him in those endless days. Dolores had long stopped trying to point them out to him when she tried to take his mind off things, only to end in a fight.</p><p>Dolores...</p><p>He missed her so much, like a phantom limb.</p><p>He knew what their relationship looked like. He had the same thoughts at the start. But the longer time went on; the way loneliness tightened like a noose around his neck. When the tears he couldn’t afford to shed for his family, least he dehydrate himself, almost drowned him from inside; there she was. She was someone who took care of him and he her.</p><p>Was it sane or conventional?</p><p>No, but it had meant the world to him.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Luther asked, having spotted him through the door and let himself in.</p><p>“It’s too complicated for you to understand, and I’m not going to waste time trying to explain.” Five stated haughtily, absorbed in his papers.</p><p>Luther shot him a sad, hurt look before he too began fiddling with the scattered papers and saw the equations. He flashed back to the walls of Five’s bedroom, where he plotted to kill an innocent gardener to save the world.</p><p>Five had claimed to have killed many and also that he hadn’t liked it, but the willingness to use it as a justifiable plan unnerved his brother.</p><p>“I think you need to cool it with the numbers,” Luther instructed.</p><p>“Well, I think I didn’t ask your opinion,” Five countered.</p><p>“Seriously, Five.” Luther sighed exasperated.</p><p>It had never been an easy task; talking with Five. Whatever the conversion, he always you made feel like a simple-minded fool. Take a wrong turn and he’d bite your head off.</p><p>“I know you think you need all this, but you’re not in the Apocalypse or with the Commission anymore. You can talk to us, and maybe we can come up with a better way out of this. I mean, we stopped the Apocalypse before.”</p><p>“No, Luther, we didn’t stop anything. We just didn’t stick around to die like the rest of the world. We’re only alive because of me, and if I can’t figure this out then no one else will.”</p><p>Luther frowned. “You were always bossy before you left, now it’s just worse. Before you at least attempted to work with us. Now you go off with no word, doing whatever, hurting whoever’s in your way to get what you want. Must be nice to stop caring and do whatever you like.”</p><p>“Do you think I’d do any of the things I’ve done if I didn’t care?” Five snapped.</p><p>“I think you’ve been doing this for so long you don’t see how wrong it is.”</p><p>“If it saves the world and the family who cares if it’s right?”</p><p>“You would, if you had any humanity left.”</p><p>Five had been doing a good job of brushing him off. But that comment- He kept a straight face even though it was the deepest cut he’d ever been dealt.</p><p>“Get out,” Five ordered, his voice monotone.</p><p>“Five, we’re here for you, to help you. You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”</p><p>He couldn’t believe that. He had spent more than half his life alone. He had lived for so long after everyone was gone. He never really came to terms with their deaths. It was always either get back home to save them or die with them in ashes.</p><p>And the joke was, he did make it home and now they were all strangers to each other.</p><p>They could judge him for his words and actions because they didn’t know the true gravity and horror of what failure looked like. He couldn’t damn them with him. Even though the Commission had carved the ‘nice’ personality his family remembered out of him, he couldn’t pull the trigger to end the last bit on innocence in them.</p><p>He decided he didn’t need them to like him or want him; that was fine. But he would save them, damnit!</p><p>“<b>I said, get out!</b>”</p><p>“Überraschung, überraschung, überraschung,” (<em>Surprise</em>) Briana announced with a drawling voice and a swish of skirts.</p><p>She was wearing another tunic-dress, this one a faded blue-green over a purple skirt. With a knit seafoam green sweater for warmth.</p><p>The rest of the family were hovering by the door. They had all been downstairs setting up for a movie night, when Briana suddenly growled out. “Think carefully Luther, what you say next decides the arrangement of your face.” And then she left. How could they not follow that like ducklings?</p><p>“Luther, why is it whenever I feel someone getting pissed off in this house, you’re there?” She asked before taking in the paper work explosion. “This what all the ruckus is about?”</p><p>Luther interjected. “He’s taking it a bit too far. Can’t you do something to calm him?”</p><p>Five grit his teeth to avoid taking a swing at him.</p><p>“I think him punching you in the face will calm him down more than I can,” Briana retorted, shuffling the papers.</p><p>“Why are you never helpful in a situation? It’s your ability to empathize, right? Just take whatever causes this and replace it with something else.”</p><p>The others watched enraptured by the verbal tennis match, eager for the shutout.</p><p>Braced against the table, storm clouds gathering in his shoulders. “One; that is not how it works. Two; Maybe if you started treating everyone like the family we are and not the team you what to dick-tate to, I won’t want to use Five’s very high aggression levels and non-existent impulse control to kick your obnoxious ass.”</p><p>“How am I the problem? It’s not healthy for him to hide away with only math, coffee, and crazy.”</p><p>“Like there’s any decent coffee in this place,” Five scoffed.</p><p>“I think it’s unhealthy that a grown-ass man of thirty still doesn’t use potpourri after he demolishes a bathroom. That’s detrimental to the whole house.”</p><p>The even Numbered siblings snorted in amusement.</p><p>Luther burned red, mortified. <span>“</span><em>You-</em><span>”</span></p><p>“What are you working on anyway?” Ben interrupted, not wanting to have this be how the day was spent.</p><p>Five answered with a half-truth. “I’m trying to work out the probability of the Commission sending another squad after us.”</p><p>“Is that likely?” Allison jumped in. “Getting attacked again?”</p><p>“Yeah, they got their asses handed to them last time,” reminded Diego.</p><p>“It’s literally a 50-50 chance. If this were the Handler, I’d know she never let this rest. But that wasn’t her voice on the comm.”</p><p>“Who else could it have been?” Vanya wondered.</p><p>“At a guess, I’d say the Commissioner, founder of the Commission. Though I didn’t think they were still alive, the way they all talked about it over there.”</p><p>“Didn’t think you’d be one for water cooler gossips,” Klaus commented.</p><p>“The Corrections agents didn’t hang out. I only knew about Hazel and Cha-cha because they were the best under me and our case workers made up a rivalry for us like we were their sports teams.”</p><p>He let out an amused scoff in nostalgia. “Hazel gushed about Calhoun, but the best was my ‘66 London job.”</p><p>“<em>16</em>66 London?” Briana clarified.</p><p>“Yeah.<em>”</em></p><p>A wide grin stretched coyly across her face then giggled. “Oh, you fire bug.<em>”</em></p><p>The act and body count were horrible on paper, but he was kind of proud of himself for how he’d planned it. “Jumping helped getting to right places to spread accelerant. After that it was just a matter of cracking open an oven.”</p><p>“What happened?” Ben asked, confused.</p><p>“Five here set The Great Fire that gutted the majority of the London slums.” Briana supplied.</p><p>“Jesus, Five,” Luther reprimanded, the siblings echoing the same sentiment.</p><p>Five dimmed at the words.</p><p>“That’s actually a good thing. There was a second round of plague brewing in that overcrowded gutter if it got out so soon after the first wave of death it would have made the Flood look kind,” Briana corrected, effectively shutting them up.</p><p>“What else did you do?”</p><p>Five smiled. “You ever read of DB Cooper?”</p><p>“Yeah, he...Nooooo!” She laughed and clapped. “No wonder they never found him.”</p><p>“It was a slow weekend. Waco was the longest field job I worked. Had be there for the first and last shot.”</p><p>“Okay, okay. How many of the ten times Moscow burned were you there?”</p><p>“I’m sure he wasn’t around for every major event in history,” Allison rebutted.</p><p>Five countered by coyly holding up two fingers.</p><p>“Tell me Napoleon was there for one of them,” Briana pleaded.</p><p>“Best way to over compensate for being atrocious at battling at sea.”</p><p>He was less tease now, calmer, soothed. And he knew it wasn’t because she had used her powers to achieve it, it was just who she was.</p><p>She turned and began shooing the group out. “Come on guys, leave Gauss to his numbers. We’ve got a movie that won’t watch itself.” She turned to Five. “You’re welcome to join when you find that nine.”</p><p>It wasn’t until they had all left that Five realized she had been talking about his equations.</p><p>He wasn’t sure if would work on her powers, but he thought of gratitude and pictured her in his mind. When he felt she was smiling back, like smoke brushing against skin, he knew the message had gotten through.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Five never did join them for the movie.</p><p>It was some mindless comedy with goofball actors that Allison claimed to have been a beard for one early in her career. Then challenged them to guess who.</p><p>All of them were crammed on the couch with snacks and drinks. It was a cozy night like many a normal family had shared with each other but was a first time for them.</p><p>Briana had leaned against the end of couch and fallen asleep midway through. They left her to it thinking nothing more than they had been keeping her busy.</p><p>It wasn’t until they came back the next morning and found her in the exact same place that they realized something was wrong.</p><p>She was limp and glassy eyed. Klaus and Vanya both tried to wake her up but nothing worked.</p><p>“Is she high?” Luther wondered.</p><p>“Luther!” Ben scolded.</p><p>“Just saying she looks like Klaus use to.”</p><p>“I was never this unresponsive!” Klaus defended.</p><p>“If anything, you were chattier,” Diego hackled.</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>“Oh dear,” Grace sighed, as Alison returned with backup.</p><p>“Is she alright?” Vanya asked as Grace examined her.</p><p>“No, but give it time.”</p><p>“Why didn’t she tell us she was feeling bad?” Ben questioned.</p><p>“She doesn’t like it when people worry. She can’t fix worry. Sadness, anger, fear; she can help change them. But worry, worries linger no matter what and they weigh her down. She just needs to rest and be back to herself in no time. Diego dear, will you take her to her room?”</p><p>“Sure Mom,” he answered. He pulled her into a bridal carry, then paused on his way out. “Um, where’s her room again?”</p><p>“No worries. I know,” Klaus interjected. “It’s behind the star shelf in her storage room.”</p><p>Klaus got the door to swing out and let them in. Once inside they all stood gaping at the sight.</p><p>The room was bigger than anyone else’s. The walls were black, yet somehow, maybe another magic trick of hers, there was some kind of blue and green shimmering lights dancing across them. They looked like aurora’s giving the room a tranquil cavern feel.</p><p>There was two wardrobes and a metal twisting tree that shined with plethora of gems and jewelry. The bed was round and built into a hole in the floor.</p><p>“When she wakes up, we need to talk interior tips,” Allison commented, greatly admiring the room. “You’re gonna be so jelly of the closets,” Klaus teased, tucking his sister in with a kiss on her forehead and shooing them out.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Five didn’t know what time it was. Didn’t know what time was anymore to be honest. And why would it work for him now?</p><p>He paced furiously. His hair was an oily mess from stress sweat and running his hands through it countless times. Almost yanking a chunk out thinking pain would sharpen his mind.</p><p>Even if he worked the math out and got his powers to work, he’d still be back there. The sun beating down hot, his burned lips always cracked no matter the drinkable water he found. He’d still have to chase down cockroaches just for <em>something</em> to eat when his stomach went empty too long.</p><p>He’d have to see them there again; dead. They were the only people he’d come across, the only bodies he’d found. He hadn’t known who they were at first, and still he tried to see if they were alive. Then he saw the tattoo. His family’s tattoo. That painful umbrella Dad had branded them with before their first mission. After that is was easy to guess who was who.</p><p>He buried them. Had spoken the soft words he wished he had said when they were alive. He cried; that was the last time he cried.</p><p>Now he had to go back or be the cause of their death.</p><p>The idea fractured his mind. There was already a wide gap between them. They hadn’t understood him when they were kids and had not gotten any better as adults. Not that he was offering any helpful insightful at all.</p><p>Distance was the double edge sword he chose to fall on. The Commission had done more than take him out of the barren wasteland he fell in. They had worried he’d be too broken from the experience to be of any use and ‘fixed’ him. Made him better to get the best out of him was how they justified it after the fact.</p><p>They had turned him into a monster. Once it was done there was no reversing it. He would be this way till he died. He only hoped that death came before the family found out the truth about him.</p><p>Luther had no idea how well he hit the nail on the head by saying there was no humanity left in him.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Briana was very certain he did not know where he was. That Five must have blind jumped in an attempt to escape the attack. Too bad the attack was his own panic. It landed him here in her room curled up the smallest ball he could.</p><p>It was his raw panic that had woke her up. That had knocked her off the path of the rabbit. Most days she was with Mr. McGregor; freaking cottontails were a menace.</p><p>At first, she tried to ignore him, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate having a witness to his fragile state. But he was too worked up to just leave him to it.</p><p>Five became aware of a clinking sound like bottles knocking against themselves. A soft whoosh of ignition and then a calming scent of sage. He felt something lumpy wrapped in some dense but soft fabric put in his hand.</p><p>He blinked back to present, coming face to face with Briana. She sat crouched in front of him, eyes aglow. The light streams in the room curling and shifting against the walls. She was decked out in jewelry; a tangle of necklaces around her neck with bracelets tickling on her arms and rings on almost every knuckle.</p><p>He found himself turning a red velvet bag over in hands as the sage burned off.</p><p>“Heard you were resting. Sorry for waking you up.”</p><p>“You’re sorry for getting me out of a catatonic state?” she asked, amused.</p><p>He focused on opening the bag instead of coloring with embarrassment. He scoffed when he discovered the bag was full of shiny rocks.</p><p>She laughed at his grouchiness. “Same old argument. You with your logic, math and physics, me with emotion, magic and mystical sense. Still the same old crab. No time will change you, Houdini.”</p><p>Five stiffened his lip to keep it from wobbling.</p><p>Briana sighed. “I shouldn’t have done this with you.”</p><p>It was unknown why his heart dropped to his stomach, why panic flare up in his throat at her words.</p><p>“I’m not quite alright just yet, and I’m stuck.”</p><p>He breathed a sigh of his own in relief. He tucked the bag into his pocket and helped her up. “Do I get to return the favor and put you to bed this time?”</p><p>She laughed. “It’s a nice thought, but no. If you don’t mind, could you take me to the living room where our train wreck of a family is gathered?”</p><p>Five’s brow furrowed. “You should rest.”</p><p>“Probably. But I’m not gonna miss watching Ben rip Luther a new one.”</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>Being alive again after being dead for so long was more challenging than Ben thought.</p><p>For one, he had gotten very used to his comments and observations about their family to only be heard by Klaus, who often ignored them.</p><p>Now he was heard by everyone who were eager for his company after believing they’d never have it again. But they clung to the way they remembered him before his death. They weren’t acknowledging how Death had changed him. Death had made him a saint to them.</p><p>Which if they had asked Klaus, he would have exuberantly told them Ben had always been a sassy shit. Death had just loosened him up.</p><p>Now every facial twist and scoff at the things they did that annoyed him earned him hurt looks.</p><p>He had made progress with the Them, he could not communicate without Briana interpreting, but they were leaps better than before.</p><p>Same with most of family.</p><p>Alison and Vanya were a strong sister duo now that the Rumors were put away. Diego was being slightly more open to his siblings. He was still a gruff grit, but it was in a more obvious loveable way. Klaus was sober and happier than Ben had ever hoped to see him. And Five was Five.</p><p>They finally gotten their godsend of a therapist in Briana.</p><p>But the comments Luther still made was just more in a long line crap that was not going to be tolerated anymore going forward.</p><p>The rampant hypocrisy in that no one could go near Luther’s banana-loving-bod or his stay on the moon. And yet he freely brought up Five’s hang-ups after the Apocalypse and his time job. Or Klaus’...everything. Pressuring Allison to use Rumors knowing how badly that had messed her life up. And causing Vanya’s breakdown in wake of discovering her powers.</p><p>It all reeked of their father.</p><p>Ben was through with the Cro-Magnon treatment of his siblings. He was no longer the passive voyeur. They could hear him now and they would listen.</p><p>“Luther, can I be frank?” Ben started.</p><p>“Bit late in life to be changing your name, Ben,” Klaus teased.</p><p>“Not now, Klaus.” The medium quieted seeing the unusually serious face on his brother.</p><p>“I’m going to speak candidly. I don’t like how you treat us.”</p><p>A literal bomb going off could not have surprised the family half as much as his words had.</p><p>“You’re not Dad. And you don’t get to use your size and strength to intimidate, harass and, in some cases, physically assault us just because we don’t agree with you. You don’t ever get to knock anyone in this family around.”</p><p>“I’m sorry if it looked that way. But I’m the leader and if I didn’t push you, you’d stand still,” Luther explained sensibly.</p><p>“Like you pushed Vanya when she came home?” Ben fumed.</p><p>Luther shuffled his feet, uncomfortable under the scrutiny. “I was scared then. Allison was hurt and Pogo had just told me Dad had locked her powers up because he was afraid she’d lose control. Which she did.”</p><p>“Because her brother choked her out, you stupid ass,” Ben hissed.</p><p>The whole room was staring at him, shocked. Klaus wasn’t even egging him on like he liked to do when there was a family fight.</p><p>“Dad was afraid of her. The man that never liked anything he couldn’t fit neatly into the box he wanted it to. From the day he got us, he decided how we should be. Which is great if he treats you like the favorite. It’s a bit harder on the rest of us when he had to cut off pieces just get us to fit.</p><p>“He was a monster. Cause he didn’t just take Vanya’s powers and emotions away from her, he threw her out for every single thing we did. He put the jealousy’s and the dismissive attitudes and pitted us against each other. Told us we were disappointments and a waste when we didn’t measure up. And we followed him.</p><p>Ben scowled. “So, what happened, Luther? You realize you were as down in the dirt with us after all in his eyes, and thought you could win a dead man’s favor by painting our sister as a villain so you could keep playing number one?”</p><p>“No, that’s not-” Luther tried to protest.</p><p>But Ben was on a roll. The levee had broken and all his grievances came rushing out.</p><p>“True? You have never missed a chance to shove your number in Diego’s face. You talk down to everyone like we’re beneath you or like we’re only here to jump when you call. You dismiss and sneer at Klaus just like Dad did. Only you actually took it a step further. On that last day before the Apocalypse you crossed the line like I was sure you’d never do.</p><p>“After Klaus wouldn’t give you advice on how to get high, after I watched you choke him and throw him across and leave him there, we went after you. I convinced him to keep looking for you, that despite the bad day you were having you would do anything if it were him.</p><p>Ben’s eyes were getting unfocused, looking inward then out. “You know that girl you took home had a boyfriend? And he did not like you around his girl. He was going to attack you when Klaus jumped on his back to save your drunk ass. The guy threw him off and his head smacked against the concrete.”</p><p>“He <em>died</em>, Luther! And you just left him there!” Ben bellowed.</p><p>“You - did - <em>what</em>?!” Diego growled fiercely.</p><p>“The hell, Luther?” Allison yelled.</p><p>“Why didn’t you say anything?” Vanya asked Klaus.</p><p>Klaus squirmed and averted his eyes. “...Because it didn’t matter. I got better anyway. Little Dutch bitch didn’t want me around longer then she had to.”</p><p>“What do you mean ‘it didn’t matter’!?” Diego shouted, horrified. “I don’t care if you did walk that shit off, you tell someone about that.”</p><p>“Why would I?” Klaus challenged. “It’d just be another thing I say that you didn’t believe. Here’s how that conversion would have gone. ‘Oh, by the way guys, my head cracked open like an egg at last night. But Humpty-Dumpty wasn’t as good as me and I’m all back together again. Oh, you want me to prove it? Sorry, I don’t have any evidence. I’ll show myself out’.”</p><p>“Not even you would joke about that,” Diego murmured, his heart breaking for his brother.</p><p>“You didn’t believe me when I said I was sober. And you all never believed me about Ben.”</p><p>“I’ve always wanted an answer for this; what the hell?!” Ben demanded. “You all know Klaus sees the dead. It’s his fucking power. And you all called him a liar. I got to watch, helpless, as you ran over my family. “</p><p>“It’s not like Dad never did anything to me. He sent me on a pointless mission to the moon,” Luther defended.</p><p>“I died, you peanut-brain-monkey-man,” Ben countered coolly.</p><p>“I don’t care if Dad threw you into the depths of a black hole. You raise a hand to anyone in this family, if you pull any of that Neanderthal-Daddy-knows-best-I-can’t-think-for-myself shit again; I’ll show you why I’m the Horror.”</p><p>The Them further backed the threat by letting out a hissing growl from inside Ben’s chest.</p><p>“Man, I am glad we didn’t miss this.” Briana announced from where she sat on the floor by the door, hands propping her up, legs V-ed out in front of her. Five stood with his arms crossed and frowning at them all her side.</p><p>“You always want a front row sit when a nice person finally snaps. And Benny is the sweetest napalm ever.”</p><p>She cursed softly when she couldn’t push herself up. She put hand out and Five without missing a beat helped her up. This struck the others as bizarre because Five hardly touched anyone (non-violently, of course). If he was angry, then his hands were all over you, beating you to a pulp. Granted, he dropped the hand as soon as she was up, but he’d offered all the same.</p><p>Klaus was quick to take over, having already been on his way. He helped her lumber her way to the couch.</p><p>“You know brother-mine, there are easier ways to chat with supernatural entities then dying. You can come with me next time I summon the devil for lunch.”</p><p>“What are you doing meeting the devil?” Having had his own encounter not turn out how people advertised, he wondered how a meeting with universal bad guy turned out.</p><p>“First time was just to see if I could. We liked each other and decided to keep hanging out.”</p><p>“What’s he like?”</p><p>“Hot in a chaotic way,” she answered with a lecherous leer. “Good kisser.”</p><p>“Briana, you harlot,” he sassed.</p><p>“You’re just mad I get better than you.”</p><p>“Yes! But that’s not the point.”</p><p>“Should you be up?” Allison interjected, changing the subject before it went into a ravine. “Looked like you’d be down for the count for a while.”</p><p>“Oh, that just looked worse than it was. If I start coughing up blood then you can panic because something’s gone horribly wrong.”</p><p>“Because that’s usually a good thing?” Diego grumbled.</p><p>“Touché. No, I just was ignoring the collective mess of seven different emotional sixteen years; successfully. And then it just all got on top of me at once. It happens.”</p><p>Five narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her excuse. Because it was a lie. No one here had been thinking about the past, not the hard parts that could knock her down anyway. The mood had been more harmonious then ever before with them all together under this roof. When they poked fun at each other it was just that; fun. They laughed more in each others company in these last few weeks then in the all the years spent together.</p><p>She had only been worn down at the start when they invaded her space so suddenly. Unleashing an onslaught of the most barbed and toxic emotions.</p><p>The only one who had emitted any kind of bad vibes for her recently was him.</p><p>No one but her could have know how devastating yesterday had been for him.</p><p>He felt her in his mind again, soothing the fraying edges at the event he caused. She didn’t blame him for his feelings. Too bad he already blamed himself.</p><p>She hummed and arched her back against the couch, her spine popped loudly multiple times. All of them winced at the cracks.</p><p>“Thank Gott it’s a full moon tonight. Due a nice moon bath to finish perking up while these charge up.” She jangled the necklaces.</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>The grim twins were treating moonbathing like one would sunbathing, despite it being a) October and b) ten o’clock at night.</p><p>Then again if the Witch wanted to be outside, the weather would act accordingly. It was a surprisingly warm evening.</p><p>Klaus was shameless in a tie-dyed pair of underwear and knitted shawl likely taken from his sister’s closest.</p><p>Briana came out in a black smock of a cloak, hauling a comedically heavy sack of her crystals like Santa.</p><p>Luther took it from her with annoying ease. “Where you want them?”</p><p>She instructed him to dump it in a spot that was going be lit up for a majority of the night. The crystals clamored out into a pile then were spread out.</p><p>“That all of them?” he joked.</p><p>She replied in all seriousness. “No, these are just the ones that are worn out.”</p><p>“You’re kidding.”</p><p>“I don’t kid about my craft, especially crystals.”</p><p>Behind his back, she winked at the others.</p><p>She undid tie at her neck, letting the fabric fell and gather at her feet. She wore a high waisted airbrush golden scaled bottoms with a beaded purple top. Her magic marks stood out boldly as the light illuminated her pale skin.</p><p>Up till now they had only ever seen her in layers or bundled in skirts and sweaters. All of which hid the curves that suggested a bombshell of a woman.</p><p>Klaus groaned loudly, throwing a dramatic hand over his eyes “Dethroned as the hottest, most spankable ass in the Academy and by my own sister. Not sure if I’m proud or jealous.”</p><p>“Be happy we’re the same size,” she claimed.</p><p>“Yes, we are, sister dear,” he replied, jolly again.</p><p>The twins lounged like cats in a sunbeam (moonbeam?), while the rest ate and chatted over the picnic they’d made for the night. Never done a family picnic before. It was odd eating on the ground having been drilled with Victorian table manners from an early age, but it was pleasant.</p><p>Vanya was being entranced by the sparkles coming off the crystals. Without thinking about it, she started whistling and made a few float around.</p><p>“You’ve gotten really good at that,” Alison praised.</p><p>“Glad to be good something.”</p><p>“What are you talking about?” Briana asked, rolling off her stomach to look at them. “Even before all this you were good at the violin.”</p><p>“I was okay.”</p><p>“No, you were brilliant at it. It’s why I was always around when you were playing. You felt the most when you played, it’s where you shined the best. Come on guys, back me up here.”</p><p>They stayed quiet, having not really listened to Vanya when she played growing up. And the last time she played they were a bit preoccupied with being shot at and her powers lashing out at them.</p><p>“So, wait, none of you have hear her?” Briana demanded with narrowed eyes.</p><p>Allison made a so-so gesture, having heard her but was not very receptive at the time.</p><p>“Yeah, okay, we’re fixing that pronto.”</p><p>“Want me to get my violin?”</p><p>“No, if we’re gonna do this. Gonna do it right. Have a grand night of it. To show you how far we’ve come supporting you. We’re gonna redo your concert, get all dressed up for your big night.”</p><p>“How are we going to dress up?” Alison asked. “We’ve only got the uniforms and yours and Grace’s closest.”</p><p>“We’ll go shopping, of course.”</p><p>“With who’s money?”</p><p>“I already know which things to pawn,” Klaus volunteered.</p><p>Luther cut that idea off. “We’re not stealing.”</p><p>“We don’t have to, I have money,” Briana explained.</p><p>“How?”</p><p>“I’m a witch for hire. Selling potions and spells to people and shops. But uh, I don’t have it here. Don’t trust anything with him around.” No guessing who she was referring to.</p><p>“You all go to the mall, I’ll get the money and met you there.”</p><p>“Why not just go with you?”</p><p>“Uh, cause, um, I don’t leave my money in a bank. I leave it with my mom.”</p><p>~*~*~*~</p><p>There was some squeamishness on the boy’s part, least in terms of dressing up just for an event at home. But they were suitably threatened by Briana and backed by Allison that they were to suck it up and look nice for one night and listen for thirty minutes to show their sister they’d cared enough to support her.</p><p>So, a-shopping they would go.</p><p>Klaus was jittery at learning his birth mom lived so close. As in a block away close.</p><p>All of them had wondered about their birth moms at some point growing up, but in the end agreed Grace was more than enough mom for them.</p><p>But the novelty of the meeting had Klaus changing his clothes ten times before leaving the house. Trying to decide which image he wanted to present when he saw her for the first time. How much of himself should he show off with.</p><p>Briana finally talked him down by assuring him that she already loved him. She had talked about him every day she was growing up. When Grace had asked her opinion on his name, she had given her the one their mom had wanted to call him.</p><p>“You were always my big brother, Klaus. Just like you have always been her son. But she knows it’s not that simple with how things turned out. She’s fine with whatever you want the relationship to be, she isn’t expecting anything you don’t want to give. It’s more than enough just to finally see you.”</p><p>They hadn’t even met yet, and it was already one of his more healthier relationships.</p><p>More than anything he wanted a drink. Not for numbness this time, but for liquid courage.</p><p>In the end, he decided to just get there and let whatever happened happen.</p><p>Briana brought them to a nice corner brownstone, with vibrant flowers dripping from every window box and ivy curling up the side.</p><p>“Well, glad to know I went for good money,” Klaus commented listlessly.</p><p>Briana had reminded them that the aging spell she had cast on them wouldn’t work here. So act childish, she said before opening the door.</p><p>The inside was warm, invitingly soft and tastefully decorated. It kind of felt like if Grace had been allowed to decorate instead of merely clean the house.</p><p>“Mama, we’re here.”</p><p>At first it was only quiet, then they heard a fortifying breath being draw in the next room.</p><p>A young woman with a willowy frame stepped out to greet them.</p><p>It was jarring how going in they knew who they were meeting, but it still set them back on their heels by how obvious it was that this was Briana and Klaus’ mother.</p><p>She had roughly the same features her son would have when he was older. They had the same short cropped chaotically swooping hair. She wore a white open collared button up shirt tucked into black ankle bootcut pants.</p><p>“Nice to meet you,” she greeted, her accent more pronounced then her children.</p><p>Speaking of her kids, her eyes had locked onto her son.</p><p>“Klaus.” Her voice bobbed with emotion…</p><p>...as did the Adam’s apple in her throat.</p><p>The whole Academy, save Klaus, who was continuing his staring contest, turned wide eyed to Briana.</p><p>Having expected just this, all she said was, “Yeah, we were a <em>big</em> surprise.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>When I pictured Klaus and Briana's mom, I thought of Emma Fitzpatrick. I also needed something not the norm about her that would explain why Klaus was given to Hargreeves and why Briana came later. Why she was so encouraging of her kids weirdness. So a little backstory will start off the next chapter. <br/>Send Kudos if you like what you read. Enjoy!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Shout Out Loud and Clear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I tried my best with the first part of the chapter. But I really like how the middle came together. Kudos if you like it and want more.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">
  <em>(Everlong </em>
  <em>A</em>
  <em>coustic by </em>
  <em>Foo Fighters</em>
  <em>)</em>
</p><p class="western">You never pick the family you’re born into. You are inherently born into the relationship. That does not mean it’s a good relationship. Just because the mother carries the child to term does not mean they love them after they are born.</p><p class="western">Some people are born to be parents, others learn to be parents, and some should <em>never</em> be around children.</p><p class="western">The latter of which was decidedly Valerie’s mother. A woman who so loathed the very air others breathed it was a wondered anyone came close to attempt conception let alone finish the deed. Even more bewildering was her commitment to keeping the child.</p><p class="western">It was one the great mysteries of the world as to why a child was something Gothel wanted for herself. But whatever her reasons she would have one, and it would be no less than perfect. She had a very clear plan for her son, Karl.</p><p class="western">Valerie had every problem being having a name that meant ‘a strong manly man’ in her childhood. Simply put, she was not a man.</p><p class="western">Her mother disagreed, vehemently.</p><p class="western">Valerie had always felt a lag around her growing up. As if her very self and reality were just out of sync with each other. But every discovery she made to pick up the pace and joined up with the correct path, her mother was there with her hatred leeching into the air and condemned her harshly for it.</p><p class="western">Valerie may not have been the strong son her mother wanted, but she was by no means a weak girl.</p><p class="western">She let people catch glimpses of the bruises her mother gave her ‘by accident’ when she did not act ‘himself’. Using the sparks of rebellion to illuminate the right parts of herself; working on makeup in the girl’s bathroom, her friends bringing extra clothes to change into at school.</p><p class="western">When her mother tired of explaining away others suspicion about her child’s wellbeing, she traded bruises for a dark closet. Locking her in with no food for days at a time. Ordering her to make ‘himself’ right or leave the house.</p><p class="western">Having tried to run away already, Valerie knew her mother would rather have a corpse for a son then an alive daughter.</p><p class="western">There were some days where she was almost all too happy to give her just that. And the day may have come where she did just as her mother commanded.</p><p class="western">Then October 1, 1989 happened.</p><p class="western">She was out with friends, dressed how she liked. She had some of the best friends. They were there to keep her moving forward. Plotting to take her with them when school was over. It had been the one light of hope she held to.</p><p class="western">Suddenly, a pain so great blossomed in her stomach and drove her to her knees. An agony so sharp she blacked out. She could faintly hear her friend’s frantic yelling around her. But as the pain somehow grew, all consciousness was lost.</p><p class="western">She awoke some time later in a blinding white room and the faint but definitive sound of her mother having a fit thrumming through the walls.</p><p class="western">There was a kind nurse at her side. Once she saw she was awake she explained, though very confused, that her son was being cleaned up and would be brought in shortly.</p><p class="western">Valerie, even if she had had the energy, wouldn’t have laughed. There was no point in saying it was impossible; anyone who saw her knew it was. And yet why say it unless it was true?</p><p class="western">The news was stunning, but not as perturbing as one would expect. It was easy to accept the unusual when you yourself were so different.</p><p class="western"> </p><p class="western">Before she could ask to see him, that unbearable pain rushed in again, somehow worse than the last time. Before the darkness pulled her under again, she felt this place in her heart fill with sadness and desperation. Like some part of her was crying out in abandonment.</p><p class="western">She woke up again to the same nurse by her side looking forlornly at her, holding tight to a small bundle wrapped in a purple blanket.</p><p class="western">Her daughter was a fussy thing, already planning an escape attempt from the nurse’s hold. But once she was laid in her arms she quieted instantly. Blinking up at her with her sweet little face and Valerie’s green eyes.</p><p class="western">Now she understood why the sudden birthing didn’t upset her, because nothing felt more right than this. She didn’t care how it was possible, or why it happened to her. For the longest time she had nothing that was hers. She was not even allowed herself. Now she had two sweet things.</p><p class="western">She told the nurse she was okay enough to hold them both if they wanted to begin in her son.</p><p class="western">Her baby girl whimpered as the nurse frowned.</p><p class="western">The nurse was halted as her mother came in and dismissed her. Before announcing blandly, as though it was of no concern, “He’s gone.”</p><p class="western">Valerie’s heart sank at the words. “What do you mean?”</p><p class="western">“A very nice gentleman offered a large amount to take him off my hands. I agreed and signed him over to him.”</p><p class="western">And with that, Gothel crossed a line. It was finally too much.</p><p class="western">Propelled by the physical pain of not one but two unexpected and impossible children. The savage, devasting ache in her heart at her loss. Valerie let out a primal curse that left her mother stunned.</p><p class="western">She had never been challenged to openly. She was not cowed for long though. Her eyes narrowed dangerously; her lips thinned into non-existence.</p><p class="western">Whateverdiabolical, malicious impulse that rose inside her was curbed by a group of reporters that had fallen on the hospital wanting a look at one the worlds 43 miracle mothers.</p><p class="western">Gothel had to admit the truth now; she had no son, all evidence said to the contrary. Now she had the embarrassment and shame of a teenage mother for a daughter. The same daughter she had wanted nothing to do with.</p><p class="western">Being a mother changed everything and nothing in her life. She was still a child herself, with no home, no job, and no money. And she did not want the money the man paid for her son even if she was allowed use it. She was still stuck living with her mother, who immediately moved them out to a cabin in the forest to hide from the media spectacle Valerie had made of herself. Now she was cut off from all her friends and the outside world.</p><p class="western">They may still be forced to share space, but events had finally succeeded in putting distance between them. Each was perfectly content to ignore the other. This freed Valerie to completely dote on her daughter.</p><p class="western">There was great joy in sharing with someone the things that made you happy. That made her happier still to see Briana enjoy them as much as her mother.</p><p class="western">She read to her her favorite books; Grimm and Poe. Imparted the wisdom she’d gleaned through hard-earned acceptance that was too rare in the world. Taught her that it was best to be kind to all those she met.</p><p class="western">Valerie felt great pride in seeing her daughter blossom and flourish and know that she’d had a hand in making something to be so proud of.</p><p class="western">She loved Briana, but in equal time mourned never even having seen her son. She never made it a secret that Briana had a brother. Had explained that his absence was not her choice. Briana promised to hold onto her love for him for safe keeping.</p><p class="western">This was an oddly perspective comment in one so young. But not for Valerie’s girl.</p><p class="western">She knew her daughter was special. And not in the way most parents thought of their children.</p><p class="western">Briana was always a happy child, but would fall into these unusually sullen moments, always at the same times as when the pain of losing her son weighed heavy on Valerie’s heart.</p><p class="western">She was always there with a hug when the sadness was too much, soothing it away with a touch. Like magic.</p><p class="western">And then there was how she acted around her grandmother.</p><p class="western">Valerie had given her a wide berth since the move. The shared bitter history between them had dug a deep moat to keep them apart. But she never said exactly why to Briana.</p><p class="western">And yet, somehow, she seemed to how without a word said. Whenever Gothel deigned to look at her, Briana would grimace or wince as though a harsh sound or sour odor crossed her senses. Even when her back was to her.</p><p class="western">When Briana at two, she found out exactly how her daughter was a different kind of special. That she knew herself and had been using it to find her brother.</p><p class="western">They had been outside among the trees, in one of the warm patches breaking through the leaves. All of a sudden, Briana jolted as though someone had suddenly shouted in her ear and dissolved into tears in fear.</p><p class="western">Once she was calmed down, she explained that she had felt her brothers fear; he was scared.</p><p class="western">The words broke Valerie’s heart as well as killed any speck of hope she had had that he was happy where he’d done. A fool’s hope from the start.</p><p class="western">How could he be if he lived with a man who had no qualms with buying a new born? It was never not a shady act.</p><p class="western">One day, Briana told her they had to go to him. Because the others scared him, that he couldn’t do what the man ordered and make them go away.</p><p class="western">When she asked who the others were, Briana replied that they weren’t. That was how she knew her son was special too.</p><p class="western">The was no hesitation on her part when Briana said she needed to go help her brother.</p><p class="western">It was time to leave. Now the exit had the tinge of noble cause, to run towards something rather than running away.</p><p class="western">All the obstacles of her youth where gone. She was older now, less disgusted using her sons blood money now that it would be put to the use of getting him back. All that remained was Gothel.</p><p class="western">In the end after all the hurt and pian, after all the psyching up and rehearsing on how to cut that final cord, it would end so abruptly as to be anti-climactic and yet there was no other way it could have ended.</p><p class="western">All the hatred and discontentment that had run through her mother’s veins had finally claimed her heart. And death parted them.</p><p class="western">Now she was free at last.</p><p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p><p class="western">She had come a long way from the sad girl that had found ironic comfort in a Grimm tale. Having lived with the avatar of wicked step-mother.</p><p class="western">It was not hard to be a better parent after that, but it still filled her with bliss to see her child be so brilliant and was sure her son was as well. Both were too bright for her to hold but she could stay close to be warm by their presence.</p><p class="western">She had resigned to not being the one to care for her son. She had missed so many important moments for him.</p><p class="western">Seeing him was a visceral kick in the gut.</p><p class="western">The longer she stared at her son, the more she was trying to not cry. She kept her hands firmly in her pockets to not touch him. If she touched him, he was real. He was<em> hers</em>. But he already had a mom in his life, and she would not make it harder on him.</p><p class="western">“Nice to meet you, Miss...” Alison greeted, pleasantly.</p><p class="western">“Valerie. You can call me Val, if you like,” she said.</p><p class="western">“You have a lovely home, ma’am.”</p><p class="western">Valerie’s face twisted and her hands pulled out of her pockets as if to ward off the word. “Oh, I don’t want to be called that until I have more than one gray hair.”</p><p class="western">“And yet you knit enough to retire a whole village of grandma’s,” Briana smirked.</p><p class="western">Val rolled her eyes good-naturally. “I have seven grand-fur babies because of you, how can I not knit them sweaters?”</p><p class="western">“They have a different one for every day for four months. Congratulations you can expand to knit wear for people. Here’s your dummy’s!” She gestured to the others.</p><p class="western">Klaus stepped closer to Valerie thereby pulling himself away from his sibling’s unconscious protective circle.</p><p class="western">The neon orange llamas on her socks were holding little umbrellas. Hard to be spooked by a woman when you were envious of her impressive footwear.</p><p class="western">“Would, uh, it be okay if I came back later? When there’s less of an audience around?” he tentatively asked.</p><p class="western">Val wet her lips and opened her mouth to answer, but it still took a few tries to get the sound to be unstuck. “J-Ja, ja, yes. Whenever you like.” She remembered the company standing at attention. “Course, the same goes for the rest of you. Welcome at any time. If you ever want a little change of scenery.”</p><p class="western">Luther shuffled his feet, feeling awkward. He was not sure how to handle these situations, and thus reverted to the owner’s manual. “Uh, we don’t really leave the house much. We keep to a tight schedule.”</p><p class="western">Val raised a coy eyebrow at him. “I thought this visit was a withdrawal before you went out shopping?”</p><p class="western">A deer in the highlights couldn’t have looked more caught then Luther did.</p><p class="western">“We’re having a concert for our sister,” Ben explained.</p><p class="western">“You should come,” invited Vanya.</p><p class="western">Val swayed on her feet, considering. “Do I get to wear a sexy outfit?”</p><p class="western">The twins laughed.</p><p class="western">Briana replied, “Sexy causal as in white-tie formal.”</p><p class="western">“Think I can swing that.” She gave her daughter a critical once-over. “You been okay, Bilbo?”</p><p class="western">Ben, who was a major Tolkien fan, flapped an arm in excitement having been turning over why Briana’s outfit had nagged at some part of his mind since they left the house.</p><p class="western">Her skirt was made up of quilt patches that reminded one of autumn, with a white peasant shirt underneath a red suede vest. She looked very Hobbit-ity.</p><p class="western">“Yep.”</p><p class="western">“That gofer giving you any trouble?” Val scowled.</p><p class="western">“Nothing I can’t handle.”</p><p class="western">“Okay.” She agreed, but was clearly not convinced. “But if he tries anything feel free to curse his shoes to always squeak, okay?”</p><p class="western">“Haven’t thought of that,” Briana admitted, intrigued.</p><p class="western">“Just make sure only he hears them, otherwise you’ll drive yourself mad.”</p><p class="western">“Yes, mama.”</p><p class="western">“Okay then. You all have fun now.”</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">Walking down the street, the twins held hands, trading feelings.</p><p class="western">“What did you tell her?” Klaus wondered.</p><p class="western">“Enough to not lie, but not enough to have her kick the doors in and take Reggie’s head off in full-mama-bear mode,” Briana explained.</p><p class="western">“And she still wanted to see me?”</p><p class="western">“She was a guy that gave birth to two kids at the age of fifteen. None of this should have happened. We’re making this up as we go and so far, it’s working out pretty okay.”</p><p class="western">“I guess. This is just so unreal, even for me.”</p><p class="western">The others tried to respect the moment for the two, but the anticipation was killing them.</p><p class="western">“So, your mom,” Luther began, not grasping that being One did not mean he should go first. Especially in delicate conversations.</p><p class="western">Briana cut him off, her tone clipped. “You already know the answer, Luther, let’s not give your foot time to find your mouth.”</p><p class="western">“What does she do?” Diego asked.</p><p class="western">“She’s a family lawyer. An undefeated champion of the best placement for the child custody battles.”</p><p class="western">“She was nice,” Five, of all people, said definitely.</p><p class="western">“She is. Fair warning, now that she’s met you, she’ll have you all wrapped up in so much yarn you’ll think you’re sheep.”</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">It was a bit odd being at the mall. The only time they had ever come here was when they made hero appearances.</p><p class="western">Briana pulled this wad of cash from her pocket and began dividing it up. The causal disregard for the amount she handed them was ridiculous. The whole bundle was big bills.</p><p class="western">“Damn, you need an assistant?” Diego asked, counting his part for the three time (still getting the same amount- Kaching!).</p><p class="western">“I don’t think you have the temperament to wait for things to brew,” Briana teased.</p><p class="western">“I could buy patience with this!”</p><p class="western">“How about just a nice suit for now?”</p><p class="western">
  <em>(Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Something)</em>
</p><p class="western">Diego, Ben and Luther went one way, more to browse since each only had half idea of what they were looking for. Klaus and Allison exuberantly pulled Vanya towards a store, eager to start the fashion show.</p><p class="western">Briana had been about to follow after when she felt Five’s uneasiness with his environment rise up behind her.</p><p class="western">Like her, he wasn’t a fan of crowded spaces. But whereas she was often emotionally overwhelmed by being around so many people, despite her many marks against it, he was just not use to being around more than the family. The Apocalypse was not known for its bustling night life. After a while a tumbleweed would have been the talk of the land for six months.</p><p class="western">“You guys go on, I’ve got a bigger fashion challenge in mind,” Briana said, keeping an eye on Five.</p><p class="western">The others saw who she was looking at and their eyes widened in consternation.</p><p class="western">“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Allison denied.</p><p class="western">“Yeah, it’s fine,” Vanya agreed.</p><p class="western">“He looks snazzy enough in the uniform,” Klaus bargained.</p><p class="western">“Nuh, I’m gonna give it a go,” Briana insisted.</p><p class="western">Klaus sighed. “Okay, but don’t be surprised if he stabs you.”</p><p class="western">And with that fond farewell, they left.</p><p class="western">Vanya, having never really put much thought into the nuances of clothes, was immediately lost in the kaleidoscope of colors and outfits.</p><p class="western">“Do you have a color in mind?” questioned Allison. Limiting it down to one color would greatly take the guess work out of the experience.</p><p class="western">“…Gray?” Vanya tried.</p><p class="western">Klaus jumped in. “Oh, silver would be nice, but not for the whole deal.”</p><p class="western">“You looked really nice with blue coat of yours. Maybe not that dark though.”</p><p class="western">“How about aqua?”</p><p class="western">The fashionista’s ransacked the store, pilling all their finds in with their sister into a dressing room. Then gushed like over-champagned maids of honor at a bridal dress fitting every time Vanya came out.</p><p class="western">She got her blushing under control halfway through.</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">Five was trying not to appear as though he was scanning the crowd, looking out for any suspicious persons in the area.</p><p class="western">A wisp of calm brushed across his mind, letting him know Briana had stepped up to his side and pulled his focus back into the present.</p><p class="western">“I don’t need any help,” he stated.</p><p class="western">“He says to the Empath who knows he’s about to bust the kneecaps of anyone who gets too close.”</p><p class="western">“And yet here you stand.”</p><p class="western">“How progressive of you. But seeing as there’s no one to beg permission for your hand; you’ll have to go traditional and see my mom again.”</p><p class="western">Having been around Klaus, he was less waylaid by her ability to turn a threat of bodily harm into an on-bended-knee joke. “I’m fine.”</p><p class="western">Briana raised a shrewd eyebrow. “Read above.”</p><p class="western">“Say you’re right-”</p><p class="western">“I do.”</p><p class="western">Five looked back out at the crowd again with gritted teeth. “What does it matter if I am or not, you don’t tell anyone any way.” He paused, then turned back to her. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”</p><p class="western">Briana shrugged. “Why didn’t you tell anyone it was my Shadow that saved them?”</p><p class="western">They met in silent impasse. Until…</p><p class="western">“So,” she clapped exuberantly. “Shopping?”</p><p class="western">“You know, I spent forty years on my own, and shockingly, part of that involved picking out my own clothes.”</p><p class="western">She rolled her eyes. “Dystopian chic is not picking out your clothes. It’s wearing whatever has the least amount of holes, or layering up to protect against the weather and environment. Now with every clothing store unburnt, you still chose mix and match the same repressive uniform. You never found your style, the things you like to wear. Like Ben and his hoodies. Or Klaus with his feathers, leather and glitter.”</p><p class="western">“I liked the suits at the Commission.”</p><p class="western">“Yes, but you dressed like an old man.”</p><p class="western">“I was- I am an old man!”</p><p class="western">“And you, you old coot, are missing out on the time honor fad of embracing a mid-life crisis of relieving your youth by cramming yourself into clothes not starched and pressed to hell. Hey, it’s good enough for the Rolling Stones.”</p><p class="western">“If this is your plot to put me in one of those outrageously colored hats, I’m going back home,” he warned.</p><p class="western">“That’s Steve Taylor from Aerosmith, and it wouldn’t hurt to be a little sexy with it.”</p><p class="western">“Dream on.”</p><p class="western">She looked very proud of him for the reference.</p><p class="western">“Besides, looks have never had anything to do with being an assassin,” he retorted.</p><p class="western">With a triumphant look, she ticked off her fingers. “Dressed. To. Kill.”</p><p class="western">“Good point,” he granted. “Answer’s still no. And nothing you can say will change my mind.”</p><p class="western">She circled around him, with a faint predator gleam in her eyes. “Oh, I can.”</p><p class="western">“Doesn’t count if you use your powers.”</p><p class="western">“Don’t have to, I have something better.”</p><p class="western">He invited her to try.</p><p class="western">“If you give this a real try, by that I mean, you take home three new outfits that are not corporate in anyway. I can get you, <em>coffee</em>. However, you want it. French press. Expresso shots. Can get you premium dark roast beans. Or if you like exotic, maybe some Blue Hawaiian. And if you were feeling so inclined. I could make them Irish with a fine Rounded Jameson whiskey.”</p><p class="western">He turned to her, his face smooth of all greed and intrigued caused by her words and said, “You really are a witch.”</p><p class="western">She smiled in victory as she glided around him, singing in the same low tone as she had made her bribe. “<em>I put a spell on you. And now you’re mine</em>.”</p><p class="western">She walked further into the mall, knowing he’d follow.</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">Briana’s definition of him trying was to throw him into a dressing room with half the store made up into premade outfits and told to try them on and give his opinion on. Basically, he was part of a hostage fashion show for a reward of decent coffee. But he had made far worse deals that left him feeling dirtier than this.</p><p class="western">She did have a point, his wardrobe never widened past the blazers and pleated pants of his youth. What he acquired after the Academy he had worn gladly until they were rags and then it was back to uniforms of a sort.</p><p class="western">He never thought about his appearance, never felt a need to pick at what was in the mirror. Not to say he’d liked what he saw in it, just was never sure what could be done to change it. Had never had a chance to find what he liked about what he wore, only focused on the practical part. And the Commission’s suits were clean, but in no way not comfortable.</p><p class="western">He spent more time ducked back behind the changing curtain feeling the fabrics then remembering he was supposed to put them on.</p><p class="western">It wasn’t that he hated them, he just wasn’t sure if he knew enough about himself to tell if they were him. He looked like a teenager, but felt like an old man. How do you dress that?</p><p class="western">Questionable style aside, he was slightly concerned when some of the pre-made outfits came with very boldly colored pants. He made a mistake in just nixing the hats, apparently.</p><p class="western">“Did you get these pants from the girls suction?” he questioned, staring at them with trepidation.</p><p class="western">“They fit?” she asked.</p><p class="western">Surprisingly. “Yes.”</p><p class="western">“Then no.”</p><p class="western">“And why is this jacket pink?” Referring to the Klaus-level hot pink tweed blazer she had paired with a crisp white shirt and plain black vest and pants.</p><p class="western">“Did you want a polka dotted one?”</p><p class="western">He stuck he head out to call bullshit on such a thing existing. Then saw the mentioned jacket dangling from her finger.</p><p class="western">He went back inside.</p><p class="western">Most of the outfits were made up with simple band t-shirts and some basic button ups. Some were paired with mildly wild patterned overshirts.</p><p class="western">He definitely liked the navy double breasted officer’s coat she handed to him.</p><p class="western">He was trying on his formal wear of the evening ahead, finally having worked his way to in the end of the pile, when Briana spoke past the curtain.</p><p class="western">“I don’t know why you insist you’ve got no fashion sense. You always helped Dolores with her clothes. She never would have picked that fur hat out for herself.”</p><p class="western">His fingers froze on the shirt buttons. The family had mentioned her in passing, but with her powers Briana would have a clearer view of how weird and unsettling they found it.</p><p class="western">“What do you know about her?” he asked, quiet.</p><p class="western">There was a pause outside.</p><p class="western">Then, “She was beautiful and smart. And even if you never admitted she was right out loud she knew she had you. You loved her. The way everyone wishes someone would love them and for them to love back.”</p><p class="western">He finished the shirt and slipped the vest on. “I know she was-”</p><p class="western">“She was the reason you came back to us as sane as you did. In sixteen years, I’ll look her up and buy her a drink to say thanks.”</p><p class="western">He pulled the curtain back and stepped out. “She’d like that,” he said with a grin.</p><p class="western">She stepped close and moved things how she liked them. She unbuttoned the cuffs and rolled them up before smoothing out the vest. “You fought for so long to get back here; I’m worried you’re missing out on the moments you came back for.”</p><p class="western">“You saying I should get out of my own head?”</p><p class="western">“I’m saying don’t spend so much time worrying about the future that you forget to live in the gift that is present.”</p><p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">The witch and time-jumper spotted the others down below and waved.</p><p class="western">Klaus yelled up, ignoring the people who stared around him. “Hey! You get something fabulous?”</p><p class="western">His sister yelled back. “Yep! I see the others over there at the fountain. Met you there!”</p><p class="western">The two hadn’t walked four feet when Five felt her hand fall on his shoulder bringing him to a halt.</p><p class="western">It was more like a claw as the fingers dug deep in meat of his shoulder, her eyes unfocused yet intense. “Know that 50-50 shot we had? We just lost.”</p><p class="western">Screams erupted below, setting off a domino effect and soon the whole place was seized by hysteria as the Commission squad swarmed in.</p><p class="western">Panic seized Five, whiting out his mind, leaving him scrambling for a plan.</p><p class="western">Briana shook him by the shoulder she still had a grip on and commanded, “Go. I’ll catchup.”</p><p class="western">It was all the push he needed to warped away.</p><p class="western">The siblings were caught in the mad rush of people blindly looking for an exit. The crowd was so strong it pulled them apart.</p><p class="western">Luther and Diego wasted no time jumping in the fray, throwing punches and knifes while dodging the barrage of bullets. Five popped in and took a knife off one and was disappearing and reappearing to slash at sides and necks.</p><p class="western">Klaus, who was huddled with Allison and Ben by the fountain, his vision flickering back and forth from the present to the war. His eyes fell on a gun laying by a body and was suddenly seized with purpose. He sprinted to gun, blocking out the others cries at his back.</p><p class="western">Luther yelling for Klaus to get back to cover. Diego telling him to be careful. Ben was the loudest as he asked what the hell, he thought he was doing.</p><p class="western">With the honed ease of muscle memory, Klaus clicked the safety off, had the cartridge checked, the hammer coked and aimed. He never missed a headshot as he took down the rest of squad.</p><p class="western">In the calm that followed, the family just stood there gaping at him.</p><p class="western">“How the hell?”</p><p class="western">Five interjected causally, “Yeah, he fought in Vietnam.”</p><p class="western">“When was this?” Luther demanded.</p><p class="western">“When I got captured by those time-guys and stole their briefcase,” Klaus answered.</p><p class="western">“What do you mean ‘captured’?” Allison cried, frantic.</p><p class="western">“Hazel and Cha-cha didn’t leave the house empty-handed after the attack.” Ben filled in.</p><p class="western">“Jesus, Klaus.”</p><p class="western">Further conversion was halted as more gunfire popped off in the distance. The fight had moved locations. With a renewed surge of adrenaline came the realization that there were two people missing from the group.</p><p class="western">“Where’s Briana and Vanya?”</p><p class="western">No one put forth an answer, just ran towards the sounds of a brawl.</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">
  <em>(Survivor by 2WEI)</em>
</p><p class="western">The sudden clamor scraped her senses. The harsh and loud sounds of ambush were not as easily filtered out nor were they softened for her benefit. A dangerous ringing whined in her ears as her heart thundered.</p><p class="western">She tried to stumble away from the noise and found herself alone and surrounded. A lifetime urge to roll over and submit rose up strong.</p><p class="western">But she was not that nothing, invisible girl anymore.</p><p class="western">No better time to stop acting like it.</p><p class="western">She was next to useless in a physical fight. She had no training whatsoever and these guys weren’t going to let her stand still to draw enough power in to attack back.</p><p class="western">She couldn’t harness any sounds the men made. It was like trying to play the same song on her violin with sheet music of a different instrument. Nothing but discord.</p><p class="western">She thought of the cage where her heartbeat was the only sound in unnatural quiet. Only her heart as it changed from panic and fear to rage. She had to find the medium. Finally, make this her own. Be at least a little like the weapon Reginald thought her capable of.</p><p class="western">If she could blow up the moon, she could stop these guys.</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">Briana stood calmly from archway, watching. Ready to step in if she couldn’t handle the half dozen left of the squad. But she believed she would work it out. Once this was checked off, no one would ever doubt her capability.</p><p class="western">The rest of the family showed up just Vanya was getting a feel for the fight.</p><p class="western">And of course, took issue with Briana’s place in the wings, misunderstanding her intentions.</p><p class="western">“What the hell are you doing? Why aren’t you helping?”</p><p class="western">“She’s got it.” As if timed just to spite her, Vanya got knocked down.</p><p class="western">The group lunged forward.</p><p class="western">And ground to an abrupt halt as a wall of flames whoosh across their path. The sudden heat had stunned Five into not jumping.</p><p class="western">“You will stay here and let her fight her own battles,” ordered the Witch, snuffing the flames out with a curl of her fingers.</p><p class="western">And very slow, very deliberate curl that was also familiar to them.</p><p class="western">Recognition came over them. The lines connecting from one dot to the next rapidly.</p><p class="western">“You. You’re the-”</p><p class="western">“It was her Shadow.” <em>Both</em> Five and Klaus answered at the same time.</p><p class="western">“How’d you know?” Klaus asked, surprised.</p><p class="western">“It moved like her in the videos. How did you know?”</p><p class="western">“Mom put the cloak back in her closest.”</p><p class="western">“Why didn’t you tell us?” Diego demanded</p><p class="western">“Because Luther was already stockpiling kindling and matches when I was just running my mouth. Was not going to give him a tank of gasoline with my actions.”</p><p class="western">“I’m all for support, but she’s not ready for something like this,” Allison insisted.</p><p class="western">“And she never will be if no ever lets her try. It will always be later if not done right now. I will help if she needs it. But if you don’t let her do this, then all of you, including her, will always hold her back.”</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">She had never consciously used her power as any attack tactic. It had lashed out for her on instinct, or moved in response to her strong emotions.</p><p class="western">Not really knowing the how and why, but trusting herself to do whatever needed to be done to at least not lose a limb or her life.</p><p class="western">Her hands came up in a halt gesture and the bullets pinged off a shield of sound. It was not a solid construction as some bullets flew through it, but were diverted enough that they wouldn’t hit their target. She also felt the kickback like the invisible shield was strapped to her arm rather than hanging in the air.</p><p class="western">Their last burst before seeing bullets weren’t hitting their mark and made to advance on her, jolted her off her feet to land on her backside. But she wasn’t as afraid as she had been at the start. Her blood thrummed with the thrill.</p><p class="western">She whistled. Barely had any moisture for it, but it did what she wanted and she amped it up to a shriek that deafened those around her.</p><p class="western">She stumbled to her feet and brought her hands together in a clap. Instantly using the sound and amped it up to a boom that shot out like a wave that threw them into the columns. Where they crumbled to floor and laid there unmoving.</p><p class="western">Her heart was steady even as she fell panting to the floor from exertion.</p><p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p><p class="western">Suddenly, the Academy was gathered around her cheering. Just a blur of celebratory pats on the back and congratulations. Every variation of nice work.</p><p class="western">“You were just-”</p><p class="western">“Amazing,” Luther said, looking at her like it was the first time he was seeing her. “You were really special out there.”</p><p class="western">She choked at the words she’d wanted to hear all her life and to hear them from him after everything, left her watery eyed.</p><p class="western">She hugged him without fear.</p><p class="western">~*~*~*~</p><p class="western">Grace answered the door as it rang.</p><p class="western">“Guten tag,” Valerie greeted warmly.</p><p class="western">“Welcome. The kids said we’d be expecting a guest. That’s a lovely outfit.”</p><p class="western">Val hummed appreciatively. “We match.”</p><p class="western">They did. While Grace looked a vision in her white dress with a V-neck and flared skirt with blue netting with a blue waist sash. Val looked alluring in her satin backless jumper suit tied at the neck. It was the same color as Grace’s sash.</p><p class="western">“Oh, so we do,” Grace smiled cheerfully and organically. “The children are really excited for tonight.”</p><p class="western">“Best not keep them waiting then. Guide me through the maze?” Val asked, her arm bent out in invitation.</p><p class="western">“My pleasure,” Grace said taking the arm and showing her to the room the kids picked for the evening.</p><p class="western">Everyone was already waiting. Had to say they did clean nice when the effort was worth it.</p><p class="western">Luther wore a nicer, less homeless version of his usual outfit. Wearing an olive-green sweater vest under a smoke gray blazer. Diego and Allison looked ready for back to back GQ covers. He in a coal gray suit with a royal blue shirt with an open collar. And her in a slim black dress with silver trim at the top that dropped down the front and pooled at her feet.</p><p class="western">Klaus was as chaotically fabulous as always. In a white silk shirt with black Hamsa’s dotted around, open to the chest. With a black sequin blazer and shimmer black snake skin pants.</p><p class="western">Five was in the red on red striped shirt rolled to ¾ sleeves and black vest as Briana had done at the mall. He had mused his hair out from its usual parting and forgone the styling gel to hold it back, leaving it shaggier than any of them had ever seen.</p><p class="western">Ben looked quant in his plum blazer over a white shirt and black jeans.</p><p class="western">Vanya fidgeted with her violin in the hallway.</p><p class="western">“Calm down,” Briana soothed. “You’ve thrown assassins around like it was nothing, you can do this.”</p><p class="western">“Rather take the assassins,” Vanya muttered.</p><p class="western">“Just breathe and play.”</p><p class="western">At her nod, she escorted her out.</p><p class="western">Vanya had picked a teal dress, the fabric was gathered down to her shins with slight off shoulder bell sleeves (for easy movement) with her hair pulled and tied back with jeweled chopsticks.</p><p class="western">Briana glided in a wine-red skirt with a midnight blue and gold star strappy tunic and a long lilac mesh overshirt.</p><p class="western">Five thought she looked like nebula</p><p class="western">“And what will you be playing for us tonight?” Briana inquired.</p><p class="western">“Paganini La Campanella then Bach’s Partita in D minor and I’ll finish with Ernest’s edition of the Last Rose of Summer.”</p><p class="western">Briana let out a surprised laugh “Well damn, go-ahead then.”</p><p class="western">“What was that about?” They asked while they took a sit.</p><p class="western">“Oh, just that she picked pieces that are absolute nightmares for the musician attempting it. We’re in for a treat.”</p><p class="western">Vanya took a deep breath, tucked the violin in under her chin, raised the bow and played.</p><p class="western">From the first note, she held the room in a thrall and took them on a journey without a word. She stood still like a figurine in a music box. The only constant movement was her bow arm and her fingers; trembling to draw out notes, gliding back and forth on the neck strings, pulling forth amazing music. Never missing a note.</p><p class="western">At some times, it seemed as if she was accompanied by two other violinists, but it was all her. Her face was smooth and at a peace only found in most calm of dreams. Her body would occasionally bend at waist, leaning into the music, building it higher till it was resonating.</p><p class="western">She didn't have to use her powers to hold the room spellbound. This had always been her passion. Once the numbing meds faded away, did everyone experience it as honestly as she connected to the instrument. This was how she put herself out there to be seen.</p><p class="western">They didn’t clap when she completed one piece and moved to another. They held in place hoping for more.</p><p class="western">She announced it was over when she opened her eyes and laid her arms at her side.</p><p class="western">She glowed with pride as the room stood to cheer.</p><p class="western">After all this time, she had finally been accepted and made herself a place in the Umbrella Academy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I raided Pinterest for Aidan Gallagher pins for outfit ideas for Five. Also a few references to his character Nicky Harper wardrobe.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Sometimes I Get the Feeling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So sorry for the late update. Please accept this brick of a chapter as apologies. Give kudos if it was worth the wait.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">After the concert, things were as good as they had ever been for the Academy kids with them all in one place.</p>
<p class="western">Vanya was transcendent under the attention. Tempers and loathing flared anew at their father for numbing Vanya and robbing her out of flexing her impish side. She was a mischievous delight now that she was out from underneath the rock.</p>
<p class="western">Luther had stopped trying to be their leader, and was giving being an actual big brother a go.</p>
<p class="western">Ben was so chill with Them, he conspired with Them to steal the last bit of Clever Crispy’s from Diego one morning at breakfast.</p>
<p class="western">And Diego wasn’t even mad at having his breakfast stolen; he was thrilled Ben was finally happy with his powers. The vicious way They had been used was ill-suited to Ben’s calm nature.</p>
<p class="western">Even Five came out of his room more, if not to actively comment or participate, then at least to be in the same room as the rest of them.</p>
<p class="western">It was the longest they had shared space without fighting. Whereas before, quarrels had been picked just to relieve boredom. No one mentioned how pathetic it was that it took them this long, after so much went wrong, to realize they made a good family together. They were together now and that was enough.</p>
<p class="western">Allison and Vanya had set to making up for lost sister time. With the hoodoo throw on them it was easy to forget that they were not in fact their usual adult selves. And to support Klaus in being the driest he’d ever been, there was no alcohol to indulge in.</p>
<p class="western">With drinking at home out and wanting to avoid a truancy charge, they were limited to the house. So, they had pillaged their way through the old teen mags, reviving some old favorites.</p>
<p class="western">As a consequence, the house smelled overwhelmingly of hairspray and nail polish. Another embracement of the times was blasting girl pop music. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was all that played for a week straight. But the boys learned to deal…because no one could get past Vanya to change it.</p>
<p class="western">Once their bond was reforged and centered, they set about recruiting Briana to the team.</p>
<p class="western">“Freshen your makeup?” Vanya invited Briana, who had been lounging with her gliders watching the pair, basking in their good mood like a cat in the sun.</p>
<p class="western">“I’m not wearing any,” she denied even as she sat on the floor with them.</p>
<p class="western">Allison cocked a mock critical eyebrow at her. She had put her vapid and shallow need to be the Academy’s alpha female in the rearview mirror and was happier for it. She had been meaning to mend the gap caused by her past self Rumoring Briana into a sandwich fetcher.</p>
<p class="western">“Did we get along before?” Allison asked.</p>
<p class="western">“We did for a while at the beginning. You use to try and throw Rumors with my accent. It had hilariously disastrous results, i.e. a little black raincloud raining on Reggie for a day.”</p>
<p class="western">“My powers can’t do that.”</p>
<p class="western">“They do with a little witch-y assistance,” she replied with a sly smirk and wiggle of her fingers.</p>
<p class="western">“So, what happened to us?”</p>
<p class="western">“I got boobs. Reggie made a competition out of everything, and making someone feel less for not maturing as fast was just another weight on the inferiority scale no one could ever measure up to.”</p>
<p class="western">Their father had pulled many an underhanded and cruel trick. Never short on strings to pull or shady seeds to plant in his children to make his ideal outcome happen.</p>
<p class="western">“His tricks might not have worked on you, but you still got alienated when they worked on us,” Vanya said.</p>
<p class="western">“Gaslighting is pretty hard to pull on someone who can see the dark vibes coming off the assbag. Now, shall we spite him by getting along and getting done up?”</p>
<p class="western">Like most things, Briana’s approach to girl time had her own spin. Rather than apply the makeup directly, she magicked the chosen colors on; much to the delight of her sisters.</p>
<p class="western">She’d swipe her tongue across her lips to darken them with rouge. She’d rub at her eyes to shade them in, flicking her nails had them painted in every color available. The best was when she ran her hands through her hair; changing the auburn tresses to a stark platinum blonde.</p>
<p class="western">This emboldened the others to descend and hold down the non-Klaus brothers of the family for a make-over.</p>
<p class="western">Luther tried for hours to get the ‘sad clown makeup’ off before realizing it would stay as long as the sisters wanted. Diego had been pissed at his hair turning lime green, but did like the longer length he kept when it went back to normal. Ben liked to stop and admire the bright colors his nails were now painted in. Klaus had only offered up a token chastisement for not being told sooner than asked Briana to magic make-up the hell out of him.</p>
<p class="western">Even Five was subjected to the hostile makeover. Well, as far as you could push him into something without loss of limb.</p>
<p class="western">The popular theory among the siblings was that Briana had to have offered him coffee spiked with actual liquid gold to have him accept and wear the plastic daisy barrette in his hair for the day.</p>
<p class="western">Again, everything was good.</p>
<p class="western">Which just added to Diego’s sour mood. He didn’t know quite how to operate without near constantly having something to punch or stab at. He did not know what to do with peace.</p>
<p class="western">Lucky for him a certain empath was well versed in creating enough playful chaos to coax people out of their shells.</p>
<p class="western">Briana sauntered over to the radio dressed in a vibrant green and gold skirt with a black crop tank, her hair gathered in a high ponytail through the dark open topped visor hat as the fourth Madonna number of the day faded out.</p>
<p class="western">“What say we give the Queen her rest?” Briana proposed.</p>
<p class="western">“You killing the party?” Allison quipped from where she was braiding Klaus’ hair.</p>
<p class="western">“Never would I dim so brilliant an icon. I just suggest we make room for the King.”</p>
<p class="western">She spun the dial, changing the station.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Black Or White by Michael Jackson)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, hells, yeah,” Diego cheered before he could stop himself.</p>
<p class="western">This was not a guilty pleasure of his. There was no shame in great music, especially ones you could dance to. He was just shy at having others see him enjoy it so enthusiastically.</p>
<p class="western">While the last few weeks had let him let his guard down. It was nowhere near enough to come out in full dance dance revolution mode.</p>
<p class="western">Then he noticed Briana was not shy about throwing herself into the music, her body flowing and popping to the rhythm. A rhythm he recognized as the moves from the singer’s Dangerous performance.</p>
<p class="western">Well, if that was how they were gonna do it.</p>
<p class="western">Their eyes caught and locked. They shared a sharp smirk; challenge accepted.</p>
<p class="western">He shifted closer into her sight so she’d see him do some of the bigger, bolder moves of the number.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus having been a rave rat knew a Jackson off when he saw one. Not knowing whose side to root for he just let out an encouraging cheer of “Dance your asses off!”</p>
<p class="western">And thus, began the tit for tat, trading bold and flare until Dangerous fall into the stuff of legend.</p>
<p class="western">Diego kicked off with a Kick and then into a pretty good Side Slide, not to brag.</p>
<p class="western">Briana responded with a flawless Circle Slide, that she ended by taking her hat off and frisbee-ing it at his head with a flick of her wrist, in an ultimate in-your-face move.</p>
<p class="western">Diego then attempted the MJ spin that almost spun him on his ass. Briana tried with more success; the move made all the more dramatic by her skirt swirling out around her.</p>
<p class="western">Diego began a Robot routine which Briana immediately picked up on. She had to have used her power a little; no way she knew how to mimic his moves with mirror-like accuracy. Their smirks stretched into full blown grins that had their faces hurting as they seamlessly shifted out into a Moonwalk that had them crossing paths.</p>
<p class="western">Feeling almost goofy from the moment Diego attempted the Lean, and well, there was a reason special shoes were required. Gravity claimed him as he went too far and tipped over, snagging Briana on the way down.</p>
<p class="western">Both fell laughing into a breathless pile on the floor.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">~*~*~*~</p>
<p class="western">Normally, Five’s door was very good at blocking out unwanted sound that would disrupt him while he crunched equations. But if two sugar gliders were to jiggle the door open a crack and wander in to curl up in his lap, then he could hear Briana and Klaus.</p>
<p class="western">“- If we never ask him, he doesn’t have to say no” Klaus whined.</p>
<p class="western">“He’s not Reggie, Klaus. He’s not going to say no to something important for you. And I’m the one doing the asking,” Briana assured.</p>
<p class="western">With that she pushed the door open rest of the way, pulling a squirmy Klaus behind her.</p>
<p class="western">“Lord of Time and Space, I ask the use of your powers.” She announced grandly as though she could earn his favor through his ego.</p>
<p class="western">But as always, she had him curious. And she was right, if this was something important for his brother and he was capable of doing it, he would. But he would not seem so easily won.</p>
<p class="western">He cocked a skeptical eyebrow and asked, “What do you want?”</p>
<p class="western">“We need you to make a way to reach back- technically forward- and retrieve an item.”</p>
<p class="western">“I’ve never done anything like that before.”</p>
<p class="western">Klaus wilted behind her, but she passed on. “That does not mean you couldn’t once the math was worked out.”</p>
<p class="western">Point.</p>
<p class="western">“What are you hoping to get?”</p>
<p class="western">“Klaus’ dog tags.”</p>
<p class="western">That <em>was</em> important.</p>
<p class="western">He remembered how miserable and fond Klaus had looked at them the first time he had pointed them out just after his return. It was all Klaus had of his and Dave’s time together. He knew he was trying to call the love of his life’s ghost with no success.</p>
<p class="western">“The last place he had it was chaotic,” he cautioned. “Even if I could open something to there, you’d be grabbing blind. There’s no guarantee it’d be in reach.”</p>
<p class="western">“That’s why we’re going to combine powers. Klaus has steep it in his emotions. If he challenges them through me and I, you, you’d knew exactly where you need to open to. Then I can reach in and get them. Between the three of us, we can do it.”</p>
<p class="western">“I’ll run the numbers, then.”</p>
<p class="western">After he ran and triple checked the numbers, Five cupped his hands around one of Briana’s while Klaus grasped both of her shoulders.</p>
<p class="western">“Ready?” Five asked. They nodded.</p>
<p class="western">Five’s hands enveloped in blue haze. His mind flashing back to the Icarus theater. The stage he and his siblings stood joined in a circle, surrounding them in his power. The beginnings of the same heat and ash he spent forty years enduring was rising up at his back.</p>
<p class="western">Those memories tried to push themselves to the front of his mind. If they took over there was no telling how bad his power would react while his mind was so distracted. He broke the connection before it advanced that far.</p>
<p class="western">He stood panting, that small trick had taken more energy than his more long-distance jumps.</p>
<p class="western">But it was not unsuccessful. A metallic clink jingled in Briana’s hand; in her palm lay the missing dog tags.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus accepted them with a laugh that was more of a sob as he clutched them close to his chest, letting out a quiet, “Dave.”</p>
<p class="western">“Thank you, thank you,” he whispered, crying softly as he gathered his sister in a vice hug.</p>
<p class="western">“You are most welcome.” She hugged back just as fierce.</p>
<p class="western">Five thought he’d leave for some alone time now that he had the tags.</p>
<p class="western">Instead, Klaus turned towards him and wrapped in his own hug before Five could back away.</p>
<p class="western">It was not as tight as Briana’s had looked, but it was warm, so warm that his joints felt like Jell-O. “Thank you,” Klaus whispered gratefully in his ear. Then he scurried off.</p>
<p class="western">Five flexed his hands to try and shake off the odd creep in his skin.</p>
<p class="western">“Thank you, for making him happy,” Briana murmured.</p>
<p class="western">“It was your idea,” he evaded.</p>
<p class="western">“Yes, but you can’t hold an idea.”</p>
<p class="western">He nodded like he was listening, but white noise began shrieking in his head. That hug had been too much for him. It was too nice and intimate after grazing against his nightmare that had left him raw and he <em>did not </em>want Briana to see/feel it.</p>
<p class="western">“Glad I could help, but if you could leave now,” he explained in a rush.</p>
<p class="western">If Briana thought the shift was concerning, she said nothing. Just, “As you wish, Houdini.” And left with a bow.</p>
<p class="western">~*~*~*~</p>
<p class="western">The other shoe always drops. A thing forgotten by the Academy, where shoes dropped left, right and sixteen years later, was to count in pairs.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus, despite having Dave’s tags again, was no closer to calling him. He did not believe he’d move on. He had told him about his powers, his family, all the things he never told anyone. He told him he was from the future.</p>
<p class="western">Dave never would have moved on knowing there was a chance of Klaus conjuring him.</p>
<p class="western">Maybe the sting of failure wouldn’t have been so sharp if he wasn’t looking around and seeing how everyone was leaps and bounds ahead of him.</p>
<p class="western">Sure, he’d learned to levitate and could throw the furniture against the wall without touching it. But he’d traded it all just to be able to summon Dave.</p>
<p class="western">He’d been sober for a month now. He’d been applying himself the most he’d ever done. And for what?</p>
<p class="western">What was the point of seeing ghosts if the one you wanted wasn’t there?</p>
<p class="western">Why keep yourself in pain when the payout never came?</p>
<p class="western">Why not just stay numb if the outcome was the same?</p>
<p class="western">He already felt like nothing. He wanted a bang rather then a whimper for his last act.</p>
<p class="western">Luckily for him, he was not the only one having a relapse.</p>
<p class="western">If it wasn’t one of the worst things he’d done (and there was a lot that he could still remember) it would almost be genius.</p>
<p class="western">To avoid getting emotionally caught by Briana, he was going to lie with the truth.</p>
<p class="western">He didn’t have to fake his unease and worry for Five, he actually looked like someone to worry over.</p>
<p class="western">He recognized the out-of-it look in the eyes, the sweet-spiked hair and pale ghoulish demeanor. It was a look he had seen so many times in rehab. He just never thought he’d see it in one of his brothers.</p>
<p class="western">Being PTSD riddled himself and a constantly (currently) fracturing addict, he figured he and Briana had accidently triggered an Apocalypse flashback that caused the spiral.</p>
<p class="western">Five had been trying to be more present, less hauled up in his room. But he had not left the house since the mall. The others had gone out some; shopping sprees, strolls in the park, and judging by the new knitwear the rest were sporting, they had taking Val up in her open-door invitation.</p>
<p class="western">“Why don’t you take him out somewhere? He’d actually be calm for you,” he suggested to Briana after explaining his concern.</p>
<p class="western">Five’s emotional state was always mercurial. He only seemed to have two. Anger, sprinkled with bitter impatience when something didn’t go his way. And quiet aloofness. Often disappearing to do his own thing. Since his return there had been this manic charge running through everything; this panicked desperation in the things he set out to do.</p>
<p class="western">The last one scared them as much as sadden them. They weren’t sure how to help, they had tried and failed. They just weren’t capable of handling what he had done through.</p>
<p class="western">They were grateful for Briana being there as she proved day one to do the impossible and make him laugh. More than that they had all noticed that he lost the awkward way he walked, as though death had locked in every joint, when he was around her. Only Klaus knew Briana didn’t the use of either of her powers to gain the improvement.</p>
<p class="western">“And, hey, this’ll be good for you too. I’m sure you could do without us emotionally poking you all day.”</p>
<p class="western">Briana rolled her eyes. “You know I don’t mind that. But, sure, alright. Think I have an idea. You gonna be okay? I know you haven’t been having an easy time either.”</p>
<p class="western">This was what made it difficult to lie to Briana.</p>
<p class="western">Yes, she was his sister. And, yes, she cared about him. And blah, blah, blah. It was the way she cared for him that made him pause.</p>
<p class="western">From the first joint everyone had wanted him to quit. But there was always this tinge of skepticism. Like even mid-pep talk they knew he’d give in at the first twinge for a hit. And then be disappointed when he did, as though they were the fools to have believed otherwise. They all definitely believed the old adage ‘Once a junkie, always a junkie’. There was proof of that, he couldn’t fault them there. It still hurt.</p>
<p class="western">Briana was not like that.</p>
<p class="western">She 100% purely believed in her brother’s ability to kick the habit. There was no put-on sigh when he wavered in his sobriety. There were no rolling eyes at his outlandish outbursts to take his mind off the awful crawling bugs he felt when he craved, or wrote him off as wanting attention.</p>
<p class="western">She was just an endless well of support.</p>
<p class="western">He’d dry her out; and she’d let him. And that was worse than if she didn’t care at all.</p>
<p class="western">It was too much for him to be trusted so much. Couldn’t handle the responsibility of being good. He was going to ruin it.</p>
<p class="western">He almost confessed. Almost.</p>
<p class="western">“Yeah, no, go have a nice time with the crazy old bastard. I’ll get Diego to entertain me.”</p>
<p class="western">~*~*~*~</p>
<p class="western">Five was not having a good day.</p>
<p class="western">His nightmares had only waited for him to breath in peace so as to drown him the inky black depth of his desolation anew.</p>
<p class="western">So, he was glad for the distraction when one of Briana’s gliders, Nibbles, snuck in and perched herself on his shoulder. He worried the small thing was having a seizure, as it was more jostling then nuzzling into his neck. But then realized its movement came from the violent shiver running through him.</p>
<p class="western">Once calmed, he remembered that the gliders didn’t so much wonder in, as they were sent. They were more then cute and soft to look at; they were Briana’s spies.</p>
<p class="western">With their mistress not far behind, he waited for the Witch to appear.</p>
<p class="western">When she did, she entered quietly, giving him an assessing look. Whatever he thought this was it was thrown out with her next words. “Could you drive me somewhere?”</p>
<p class="western">“You know there’s a law that says people that look like us can’t drive, right?” he rasped.</p>
<p class="western">“Never stopped me before.”</p>
<p class="western">“If you can, then why do you need me?”</p>
<p class="western">Her shrug was nonchalant, her stare was anything but. “Because you need to get out of the house.”</p>
<p class="western">“Who’s doing who the favor here?” he wondered, a little snip in his voice.</p>
<p class="western">“It’s possible to free two birds from one cage.”</p>
<p class="western">“It’s kill two birds with one stone,” he corrected.</p>
<p class="western">Her face twisted in disgust. “Oh, that’s awful. I like mine better.”</p>
<p class="western">He did too. It was why he agreed to go with her.</p>
<p class="western">At the garage, Five made his way to the same Royce he had taken before, but Briana went towards a darken corner of the garage.</p>
<p class="western">Every other car there was an 80’s model, this was a 60’s silver sleeked with round edges, with half the car being devoted to the engine. Five had never been covetous, but the car incited a base thrill at the thought of driving this around.</p>
<p class="western">“The Ashton Martin DB5,” Briana introduced reverently. “Closest I ever came to liking the bastard was when I saw he had this, but that died a swift death when I realized he never took it anywhere. Thought you of all people would enjoy this ride.”</p>
<p class="western">“Why me, spefically?”</p>
<p class="western">“Because you didn’t have nearly enough espionage fun as a secret organization’s liscense to kill agent,” she explained as she took shotgun.</p>
<p class="western">He would have argued that it hadn’t been a job with many laughs, more gritted teeth. But he turned the engine over and got a little lost in the rumble.</p>
<p class="western">“The exact nuances of this set-up might be going over your head, but I am greatly enjoying it,” Briana mentioned with a wide exuberant smile on her face. He fought the urge to shift under the brilliance directed at him.</p>
<p class="western">“So, where we going?” he asked as they merged onto the street.</p>
<p class="western">“You’ll know it when you smell it,” she answered as she rolled down the window. “Cool if I play DJ?” she inquired, holding up a tape.</p>
<p class="western">“I prefer silence,” he rebutted.</p>
<p class="western">She put the tape in anyway.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Angel with a Shotgun by The Cab)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">“Hey!”</p>
<p class="western">“Shhh. Oh, yeah!”</p>
<p class="western">After that it was easy to leave the troubles at the house. The new scenery and picturesque calm rushing by them with music loud enough to disrupt all thought pushed them all away. Briana was leaning against the door, hair whipping around from the wind rushing in. Only occasional fulfilling role of navigator by calling out a direction.</p>
<p class="western">While her description of their destination hadn’t been assuring; it definitely had a smell. He caught the faint whiff of something and looked for the source. And lost all thought.</p>
<p class="western">Out the window all he saw was blue and diamonds along the horizon. He was almost convinced magic was involved. Nothing like this could be so without a spell.</p>
<p class="western">While no magic was needed for the view, there was a little called on to keep the car from crashing as Five’s eyes remained locked on the wrong window and his hands and feet had eased off.</p>
<p class="western">The car parked and they exited. Five stood where gravel became sand. The smell was so strong it filled his lungs.</p>
<p class="western">A sweet mash of brine with a subtle cold like a frost creeping across. But there was also a warmth in the scent. Not sure if it was because of the sun cooking it from the ground or if the feelings the sight provoked fueled the smell. The soft rumble of the water was entrancing like hypnotism. He wanted to get closer.</p>
<p class="western">“Ah, ah,” Briana called out. “Know this is your first time, but adhere to beach etiquette; no shoes or socks.”</p>
<p class="western">He did. It was an odd but invigorating feeling as his toes curled and flexed testing the contrast of soft and grit. The sharp bite of cold water as it lapped at his feet. It felt like he could stare at farthest distance forever and always see something different as the light reflected off water.</p>
<p class="western">“The sound of the infinite,” Briana murmured at his side. “Once you’ve looked your fill, I got the second part all ready. Lounging under an umbrella with a good book.”</p>
<p class="western">“And what do you think is a good book?” he inquired.</p>
<p class="western">“Coming of age romance,” she answered without a hint of irony.</p>
<p class="western">Five’s face twisted; he had<em> no</em> interest in that. “Least try and tempt me into it.”</p>
<p class="western">“You have more ability then most to leave if you don’t like where I take you. You’ve never one used it,” she informed him as she wondered off and left him to gaze out over the ocean.</p>
<p class="western">His mind had never been so empty, his body so calm. He stood again at the edge of everything and was content.</p>
<p class="western">He stood there tracing and following the light for an inordinate amount of time. He wasn’t sure when he’d stopped looking at the ocean, and instead found himself staring at Briana as she made her way along the tides edge.</p>
<p class="western">Her off-white lace slip dress gathered in a pouch bundle in front of her, the lilac shawl now a sash at her waist.</p>
<p class="western">He merely watched her, the inspective look on her face, bending down collecting shells and dropping them into her dress. Waves surging around her feet, delicate seafoam wetting the hem and fringe on the shawl.</p>
<p class="western">He envied her the ease with which she walked, how she used the weight of her burdens to build her up instead of forcing her down like they did him.</p>
<p class="western">She was light, hope.</p>
<p class="western">He wanted that.</p>
<p class="western">He wanted <em>her</em>.</p>
<p class="western">He physically shook himself from staring and retreated to the shade of umbrella and the book she mentioned.</p>
<p class="western">What he thought about her was not a repulsive thought; it was also not the first time either. But they were decidedly not thoughts he should be having. She may know him better than the rest, but there was one thing she couldn’t begin to guess about him. She couldn’t know the why he was the way he was. If she did it would cast appall over the whole view of him. The means blackening the ends.</p>
<p class="western">He didn’t want to think about that, so he hid in the book.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">He was sure of what he’d read. That it’d have all the cliche nonsense like most of its genre. Instead, it held him from its first word, then its first paragraph, then one page turned to two. And so on until he was at the end.</p>
<p class="western">Throughout the whole book he heard an echo of himself between the two characters, but near the end when the father spoke to his son. It felt as through his heart had been cracked open and bleed the hidden part of himself onto the ink for him to finally hear the words he needed.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>
    <span class="u">Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot. Just remember: I am here. Right now, you may not want to feel anything. Perhaps you never wished to feel anything. And perhaps it’s not with me that you’ll want to speak about these things. But feel something you did.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>
    <span class="u">We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as to not feel anything- what a waste! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="western">It was pointless to hide his tears. Briana would have felt them before they fell. But there was no point in drawing attention to them.</p>
<p class="western">He should have known better. Remember <em>who</em> he had gotten in the car with, who had brought him here. Should have guessed it came with a reason known to only her that he’d find out when she wanted him to.</p>
<p class="western">Even though she seemed to be giving him his space by ignoring him in favor of building a sand castle, he knew he had her undivided attention. The point was to show him she was worth the trust, that one day, whenever that was, you were safe to be vulnerable around her. But he also knew that he could say nothing. Just ride out the rest of the day in silence and still keep it to himself. Just now he’d know there’d be someone who’d listen when he was ready.</p>
<p class="western">Her way of getting people to talk about things was not to confront them directly. Instead, she played long games to slightly nudge them closer to where they’d feel right to talk.</p>
<p class="western">Were it not that her manipulative deception came for a genuine place of caring for others she would been an apex of Machiavelli.</p>
<p class="western">He said nothing as he approached her. She, in turn, didn’t take her eyes off her castle, setting these curling cone shells around the moat. “I don’t have a hat for sea witchery, I always preferred to just admire the magic the sea has on its own.”</p>
<p class="western">For sure, there was much to admire.</p>
<p class="western">“Why are we here?” She’d talk first then he’d decide if he would.</p>
<p class="western">“This is an apology trip. Klaus pointed out, and I agreed, that we accidently we set you back asking for that favor. This,” her hand came up and vaguely waved at the surroundings, “is an attempt at making amends.”</p>
<p class="western">“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I’m the one who jumped. I did this to myself and I’ll handle it.”</p>
<p class="western">“I remember when you first jumped through time,” she murmured pensively. “I thought Reg had killed you.”</p>
<p class="western">He blinked, surprised by the forwardness. She continued, her focus on placing these spiral shells at the bases of her buildings.</p>
<p class="western">“He had you going well past your limits. You were so tired, ready to collapse. But he wanted more of you, and he would not accept any excuse. He wanted one more jump. And you did. And then you were gone.</p>
<p class="western">“I couldn’t feel you anywhere, inside or outside the house. I’ve felt death before; the suddenness, the <em>nothing</em> that follows. It was just like that. I started rehearsing how to tell the others, because Reg would have laid all fault at their feet.</p>
<p class="western">“Then forty-two seconds later, you were back, more exhausted then I had ever felt you. He ordered you to you room to work off your dead faint and considered that the end. But not you; you wanted to try again, to build on it. And he shut you down, bared your way. Not that that would stop you, you persisted.</p>
<p class="western">“And look where that got me,” Five grumbled, bitter.</p>
<p class="western">All that time in a nightmarish hellscape; scared, alone, hurting beyond the physical strain of surviving. The only thing that had kept him going was the memory of his family. A little of Reggie’s anti-connection propaganda had wormed its way in his mind. He never believed that he needed them around to achieve his goals, rather that they were a detriment.</p>
<p class="western">But when no one was around to want or need you, if you are nothing to anybody- you don’t exist.</p>
<p class="western">His siblings had no idea how desperately Five clung to the memories of them, how important those good times were in getting him home. It was the only thing he had entire time he was gone.</p>
<p class="western">And then he got back, and it wasn’t at all how he remembered.</p>
<p class="western">He took a deep breath, gathering the courage needed to take her into his confidence. “I messed up the equations on purpose. I wanted to be a kid again. They didn’t deserve another old man coming in and using them for a mission. And that stupid kid deserved to go home. Come to find out, no one liked that kid in the first place.”</p>
<p class="western">Briana hit the nail on the head when she said he hadn’t changed, but everyone else had. So much.</p>
<p class="western">They grew up without him. The events that layered over children that turned them into the adults they would be, he had missed them all. And they missed his. But where Five could still see the kids they use to be before he left; <em>he</em> was so drastically different.</p>
<p class="western">Even after an adjustment period they still were hesitant around him. Klaus had to be dragged by his sister to ask him for the dog tags and he hadn’t come with her even though he suggested an apology. Luther thought he was a mad dog. The rest left him to himself at a lost for how to interact with him.</p>
<p class="western">They had moved on from him and he wasn’t sure where he fit with them anymore.</p>
<p class="western">“Wrong time,” Briana uttered, halting his descent into the void.</p>
<p class="western">“What?”</p>
<p class="western">“When I said you hadn’t changed. I wasn’t talking about the you you were before the jump. I was talking about the first time I saw you.</p>
<p class="western">“I had just crossed the world, defanged the viper at the door, but when I was so close to my brother; I hesitated. I was scared. I knew him, but he didn’t know me. Letting yourself be known by anyone, never mind a stranger, is the hardest thing to do. And I had it on good authority that family can hate you as much as love you. I doubted he’d want to much less come to love who I was.</p>
<p class="western">“I almost left that day. Turned around and Reggie would have gladly kept my visit to himself with no one the wiser. I stayed because this imp of a boy suddenly appeared in a flash of blue, a grin taking over his whole face. My nerves were fritzing so bad I couldn’t not get swept up in him.</p>
<p class="western">“He’s just pulled some mischievous prank on his brother, Luther, and it’s even more gratifying because its caught Diego in it too. He’s proud of himself, not only for a job well done, but also in how far he jumped to hide from them. And he’s happy, so bright like a little sun with happiness, because the reason for the prank was to cheer up his sister and two other brothers.</p>
<p class="western">“That, and that alone, was worth whatever fallout would come his way when Reggie and the others got to him. Being the reason for their laughter was worth it all. I thought that was incredibly noble and took my own risk.</p>
<p class="western">“So, when I say no time has change you, I mean here you are, 54 years later risking it all to do what you can for this family. You can not ask for finer company.” She finished with a smile, offering him a starfish which he placed carefully on the wall facing the horizon.</p>
<p class="western">“Being the authority on emotions; I say that’s enough feels for one day. Time for some fun,” she announced.</p>
<p class="western">“What’d you have in mind?”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, you have the coat.” The navy coat he bought at the mall settled on his shoulders. “I have the hat.” A tricorn appeared in her hands like the pop out of a top hat and placed it on her head. Then dug her hand in the sand and pulled free a rapier sword as though it had always been buried there waiting to be found.</p>
<p class="western">“What say we do something pirate-y?” she grinned widely.</p>
<p class="western">He stuck his hand in a random patch of sand and sure enough grasped the handle of his own rapier and pulled it free.</p>
<p class="western">“Should warn you,” Briana began as he faced her. “I have impressive form with this.”</p>
<p class="western">“As the former assassin, I’ll be the judge of that.”</p>
<p class="western">She tapped her blade to his, making the metal sing out as she danced the edge along his and stopped in the middle.</p>
<p class="western">“Judge away.” There was a wicked gleam in her eye that he answered with a wicked grin that stretched across his face.</p>
<p class="western">Then she lunged at him.</p>
<p class="western">~*~*~*~</p>
<p class="western">“Never known anyone to smile so much after getting thoroughly trounced in a swordfight,” Briana teased as they came in the kitchen door from the alley.</p>
<p class="western">“It was a good fight. Plus, I kept all my limbs while having fun with sharp, pointy things. What’s not to like?” Five fired back pleasantly.</p>
<p class="western">“What the hell did I walk in on? Diego wondered as he walked over to them.</p>
<p class="western">“Nothing just some fun.”</p>
<p class="western">“Should I leave you two alone?” He ribbed the way only a brother could.</p>
<p class="western">“Something you need?” Five demanded, his buzz abetting.</p>
<p class="western">“You know where Klaus is?” Diego asked Briana.</p>
<p class="western">He had been thinking about talking him into seeing Val. He had noticed his brother slipping into darker moods and wanted to keep an eye on him. Plus, the woman made a badass strudel (don’t tell Grace).</p>
<p class="western">“He said he’d be bugging you for company.”</p>
<p class="western">“He was. Then he ducked into your room and now I can’t find him.”</p>
<p class="western">“My room, huh? Okay, don’t be mad, but Klaus hasn’t been handling Dave not showing up well and is trying to fall off the wagon.”</p>
<p class="western">Disappointment spiked hot and aching in his chest. “Damn it, Klaus. I thought the tags were supposed to help.”</p>
<p class="western">“Apparently, that was just salt in a wound. But don’t worry I took measures incase this would happen. The-” She opened the front door, only jolt back and slam it shut. She bent over under the force as she dissolved into a violent hacking cough. Waving her arm about like she was trying to ward off a bad smell.</p>
<p class="western">“Whoa! What is <em>wrong</em> with that woman?!” she ragged gasped.</p>
<p class="western">Alarmed, the brothers opened the door themselves and closed it just as fast. Only in their case it was in a frantic attempt to not be shot at.</p>
<p class="western">“Cha-Cha,” they growled out at the same time.</p>
<p class="western">“How the hell is she here?” Diego demanded.</p>
<p class="western">“I don’t know, I thought you killed her or she died at the end.”</p>
<p class="western">“Guys,” Briana interjected. “As interesting as your angry ex is. We need to get to Klaus.”</p>
<p class="western">“We’re under attack and you want to just leave the house?!” Diego barked.</p>
<p class="western">“Do you really think a door is what’s keeping that T-X from coming in here and killing us?”</p>
<p class="western">Yeah, that was odd.</p>
<p class="western">“The house is warded. No one who wants to harm us can get in.”</p>
<p class="western">“That’s pretty good,” Diego admitted.</p>
<p class="western">“And how exactly do you plan on leaving?” Five inquired.</p>
<p class="western">“Good thing you’re already warmed up from playing chauffeur, huh?” she snarked.</p>
<p class="western">~*~*~*~</p>
<p class="western">They landed in an area where calling it a slum would be an insult to actual slums.</p>
<p class="western">“Jesus, what a shithole,” Five denounced.</p>
<p class="western">“You missed by like three blocks,” Diego noted, reading the street signs.</p>
<p class="western">Five sneered. “Well, if we had left the math up to you, we would have ended in Siberia under twenty feet of snow.”</p>
<p class="western">“Don’t think your old job is enough to save you from a beatdown.”</p>
<p class="western">“Like you could catch me.”</p>
<p class="western">Even as they flashed their teeth at each other, they moved on towards the address Briana had provided. To which Briana was not following after.</p>
<p class="western">They turned and saw her with a deer in headlights look locked in a stare down with one of the more greasier residents of the area.</p>
<p class="western">Backtracking to her, they saw a definite tremor running through her like she was out in a snowstorm or a needle on a Richter scale. Tears were creating rivers down her cheeks. It was terrifying.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey, what’s wrong?” Diego worried, reaching a hand out to comfort her. It was too late to pull back when she said “Don’t.”</p>
<p class="western">Once he touched her, he gasped with a jolt as he got pulled in with what she was feeling. She was picking up just <em>horrible </em>things from the slimball. He was very bad man, who did disgusting things to kids. He was eyeing them, thinking what he’d do if he could take one of them home.</p>
<p class="western">Briana jerked free of Diego, but stumbled into Five, who froze, getting catch int eh same spiral.</p>
<p class="western">He shook off the horror show faster than the others. “Got your knives?” he asked Diego, coldly detached.</p>
<p class="western">His hand was already white knuckling the handle.</p>
<p class="western">“Get him,” Five commanded ruthlessly.</p>
<p class="western">Diego stomped over. The guy saw the glint of murder in his eyes as well as the glint off the knife and kid or not he ran away. Diego closed that gap easy.</p>
<p class="western">Briana was now burrowed into Five’s neck still shaking. Touching for Five had gotten better, but he still was not use to it. He held her in an awkward hug until Diego came back. His black shirt was damp in places, but you couldn’t tell with what if you hadn’t seen where he went.</p>
<p class="western">“You okay?” Diego asked.</p>
<p class="western">She stepped away with a shake of her head. “Nein. Let’s just get Klaus.”</p>
<p class="western">“If it’s that bad, you should go home. We can get Klaus ourselves,” Five offered, not liking how gray she had turned. It was an unwelcome contrast to the girl he had been having a sword fight with not an hour ago.</p>
<p class="western">“I did not bring the two baddest asses in the Academy for back up just to be sent home,” she replied, her tone frosty.</p>
<p class="western">“Just saying you don’t have to push so hard. You need to take care of yourself,” Diego defended.</p>
<p class="western">Briana scoffed bitterly. “If I stopped every time someone’s feelings gave me trouble, I’d never move.”</p>
<p class="western">“What do you mean?”</p>
<p class="western">“I mean, my brother and I aren’t like the rest of you. We don’t choose when we use our powers, because we’re <em>always</em> using them. They’re as constant as breathing.</p>
<p class="western">“I feel <em>everything</em> from everyone all the time. I can hush it slightly with magic, but talent won’t be quiet. It screams all the time to be used, to not be pushed out of sight.</p>
<p class="western">“As hard as it is, Klaus has it so much worse. Because there’s no hiding from Death, and the dead aren’t dead for him. They’re just these twenty-four seven sickening nightmares of blood and terror! It’s why I came to him, to try and shield him from it. Whatever it took,even if was unsavory drugs.”</p>
<p class="western">You could hear a pin drop in the wake of the confession.</p>
<p class="western">“You’re feeding his drug habit?” Diego accused, livid.</p>
<p class="western">“It’s the best dealer,” Briana explained, deliberately missing the point.</p>
<p class="western">“You let him be an addict. Just to spare yourself.”</p>
<p class="western">Diego felt betrayed. He hadn’t known how to help Klaus himself, had put all his faith in her being the solution to Klaus’ problem. Instead, she was part of the problem.</p>
<p class="western">His righteous anger ground to a halt as a sudden force seized him by the spine. A lava-like heat that radiated in waves while at the same time an artic chill washed through his very soul.</p>
<p class="western">You feel the punch, taste the blood in your mouth, but these after affects paled against the true depth of feeling someone’s rage.</p>
<p class="western">Diego had, quite simply, forgotten that Briana was the same girl that had knocked the crap out of him and Luther and decimated a whole squad of elite assassins as easily as swatting a fly. Who could glare Reginald Hargreeves into submission.</p>
<p class="western">Weeks of watching her drift contently throughout the house had faded the knowledge. Even when her tempered flared at them in the mall to let Vanya finally be herself had been tucked away. In the end, these had all been tapered views of the whole thing. Now it was out in force ready to rip his throat out.</p>
<p class="western">Five took a step back in trepidation. He’d never seen the actual shift that came over a face when it went from unassuming to homicidal, but it was as unmistakable as hearing the audible the cocking of a gun’s hammer.</p>
<p class="western">While Five believed Briana didn’t like to reveal what intimate feelings she picked up on, that impulse was eclipsed by the stronger urge to defend her brother. And she was fed up enough that rather than have them grasp the severity of what Klaus’ powers did to him, she was going to pack it into a hard ball of lead and knock them upside the head with it.</p>
<p class="western">“Do you know why he uses? Because the dead don’t just come when he calls them. They are always there, just because you or I can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist for him.</p>
<p class="western">“What I <em>have</em> seen is him sobbing and pleading himself sick for them to ‘please, please, leave him alone’. I’ve seen him so tired he shook like he was having a seizure and still wouldn’t sleep because the nightmares were worse. I’ve seen him laugh nonstop like an insane person and was terrified I had lost him before his heart could give out.</p>
<p class="western">“Your father wouldn’t stop pushing, wouldn’t stop demanding more. He was not going to allow his death charmer to be useless just because he was afraid of the dead. He wrote him off as lazy; that because he didn’t, meant he couldn’t. So, his brilliant solution was to immerse him in his power by locking him in a mausoleum with nothing but darkness and death.</p>
<p class="western">“Having never met a door that didn’t open when he forced it to, he couldn’t understand you can’t fill a hole that doesn’t have a bottom. Some dead won’t settle for being seen and listened to; some want their lives back. And the ones that harassed my brother into doing just that are like that sicko back there.</p>
<p class="western">“Once they were corporeal enough, they thanked him by knocking him around and choking him. I didn’t even get to try and help him, because that bastard knew I’d lose my head over that and locked me up so I wouldn’t ‘mess with his experiment’.</p>
<p class="western">“After that, Klaus decided it would be better if he just ‘forgot’ how to use his powers. He made himself useless enough that Reggie gave up trying on him. He’d rather be the academy joke, the disappointment, the lazy good-for-nothing slacker then suffer worse for his powers.</p>
<p class="western">“But you can’t hide from death, and they do not like being ignored. Then he broke his jaw and found a way <em>he</em> could ignore <em>them.</em> Of all the things I have tried to help him, this was the only thing that gave him peace. So, I’m not going be made to feel guilty for doing what we had to to keep each other alive.”</p>
<p class="western">Quiet fell as they processed the new take on something they thought they knew.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus saw the dead. This was his thing, like Allison had her Rumors and Luther his strength. The fact was everyone’s power had all been straight forward and all had inherently known they had a power. They didn’t need it explained how to use them, just training it for combat means. So that Klaus had always refused or claimed being incapable of using his powers, they took they father’s side when he said Klaus was shirking his responsibilities when he hid from missions.</p>
<p class="western">The lifestyle their father forced on them was hard on them all, but they got to leave their dead on the battlefield. Klaus took them home with him; the violent dead flocking to their pied piper.</p>
<p class="western">And Briana stepped up to make the dead leave her brother when she was already tormented by the living. Constantly pulling a kamikaze run of emotion; rage, grief and gut-wrenching disappointment of those around her all at once.</p>
<p class="western">It left them to wonder how either twin was as coherent as they were.</p>
<p class="western">After all the twists getting to where they were going, they just found Klaus sitting despondent on the front stoop of one of the rundown buildings.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey, guys,” he called, peering through his hair that fell like a curtain over his face, waving the hello tattooed hand at them.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey. Did you?” Diego wondered.</p>
<p class="western">He teared up but shook his head. “No, couldn’t do it.”</p>
<p class="western">His sister gathered him in a warm hug, her head laying in his shoulder. “Proud of you.”</p>
<p class="western">Klaus scoffed. “Why? Finally found something good to use this power for and I can’t even do it. What if I messed it up after all these years of forcing it away? What if I really have lost him?” he sniffled, clutching the tags. “I didn’t want make it worse and take whatever chance I had away.”</p>
<p class="western">The door opened behind them. A man with long brown hair and a brushy beard hiding a young face peered down at them with warm eyes over plump cheeks. He was remarkably clean under a tattered army green coat.</p>
<p class="western">“Briana, my luscious empress of the occult!” he exclaimed vibrantly. “How are we today?”</p>
<p class="western">“Wretched, thanks.”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, no, can’t have that.” He pouted reaching out to take hold of her hands and held them to his heart. He stood there idly humming until Briana’s color turned from gray to a rosy glow.</p>
<p class="western">“There’s my darling paramour,” he said, brimming with fondness, placing a kiss to her forehead. “Well, your sparkly thaumaturge remains sober as requested.”</p>
<p class="western">“Suppose now I have to run away with you,” Briana teased.</p>
<p class="western">“Anytime you want,my dark devasting queen. I consider our companionship alone reward for any favor asked of me. Though you banishing my more wayward tenants back to my domain and that horrible thing earlier is more the splendid.”He gave her another kiss before bidding them, “Ta, and farewell.”</p>
<p class="western">The door shut and the lightbulbs went off above the brother’s heads, shining a light on the obvious.</p>
<p class="western">Even if Briana thought there was no habit distasteful enough to not share with her brother just to give him company, she would never come to a place with so many toxic people. She wouldn’t have to. She already collected poisons and grew whatever she needed for her spells. She could make her brother whatever habit he wanted.</p>
<p class="western">Klaus was never going to relapse by visiting his dealer because that wasn’t his dealer.</p>
<p class="western">And the strange intimate relationship they had just witnessed meant there was only one person a Witch would call on to sell the ruse.</p>
<p class="western">“Briana, dear,” Klaus began. “First off, nice catch. And second, did you ask the Devil to play my dealer?”</p>
<p class="western">“First off, he’s just my cuddly muffin; we’re redefining that when I die. Second, playing a dealer is the closest he’s gotten to drugs. We share a visceral allergy to such things,” Briana said.</p>
<p class="western">“Can we get to the lie you told? You said Klaus was in trouble,” Diego seethed.</p>
<p class="western">“Believe I said ‘trying’ to get in trouble. And I was going to tell you earlier, I just forgot.”</p>
<p class="western">“You...forgot?” he repeated dumbstruck.</p>
<p class="western">“If you flip back a few pages, you’ll see I was going to tell you, but that crazy lady’s anger smacked me off course and then that creeper was like water after wasabi habanero chicken wings. Kind of lost hold of reality.”</p>
<p class="western">“Should have known I couldn’t play you this morning,” Klaus piped up.</p>
<p class="western">“You hid very little from me when I was half-a-world away. Standing right next to me; I could have inflated a raft and lazy rivered myself through the guilt,” she stated, her tone more amused then scolding.</p>
<p class="western">“So, this was all a trick,” Five summed up.</p>
<p class="western">“And I failed,” Klaus guessed miserably.</p>
<p class="western">“I have no desire to see you fail at anything,” she swore. “But then neither do you. I mean, I get it. Addiction is a cage. And you’ve felt the safest in there because everything else has hurt you. And now that you have something that matters you think you’re trapped inside. Which brings us to today.</p>
<p class="western">“By now you’ve seen me excel at the archaic side magic. But I’m also versed at the modern parlor slights and spin the con-artists put on it. Their magic is in misdirection. Deception to entertain, to inspire belief.</p>
<p class="western">“I played the assistant by setting up the trick, but you did all the magic. In a situation where you were free to stay in the cage, you finally let yourself out.”</p>
<p class="western">“Because it was never locked, I just thought it was,” Klaus realized.</p>
<p class="western">Briana smiled. “And there’s the pride.”</p>
<p class="western">“Why not just tell him that, why do all this work?” Five questioned.</p>
<p class="western">She shrugged. “It’s easier. I got tired going blue trying to make you listen. So, I stopped talking and just did it myself. Then acted as surprised as the rest as it happened.”</p>
<p class="western">“Don’t you get tired of pretending all the time though?” Diego asked.</p>
<p class="western">She smiled again, a scathing and savage thing. “Gentlemen, I’m a woman. Faking it is in the DNA.” With that she let out a jaw popping yawn and listed dangerously to the side.</p>
<p class="western">“And that’s my que to play steed again,” Klaus said as he offered her his back.</p>
<p class="western">~*~*~*~</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Tiny Dancer by Elton John)</em>
</p>
<p class="western">The siblings opted to walk back home, needing the time to digest that afternoon.</p>
<p class="western">“You made a good call with her,” Diego commented halfway home. “She’s really helped you come into your own.”</p>
<p class="western">“You helped me too,” Klaus assured.</p>
<p class="western">“Not to enough to quit.” The statement wasn’t bitter or angry, just resigned. As much as he worried for Klaus, he never gave him his best effort, always failing him on the little things. Like never once asking <em>why</em> Klaus used. Only giving him accusations and judgements, believing Klaus was merely being dramatic. He let him down in not being what he needed to kick it.</p>
<p class="western">“Hey,” Klaus interjected, soft but firm. “I wanted to. But I didn’t <em>need</em> to. I didn’t need to because no matter how mad I made you; every time you swore you were done watching me self-destruct, you came back anyway. There was no risk of pushing you away because I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t believe I could lose you, any of you.</p>
<p class="western">“I knew we were all in own level of hell. And Briana’s right, there was nothing you could do to fix it. No one was going to stop Dad. The only thing I could do was hide it away and try to move past it.”</p>
<p class="western">“We should have done better by you,” Diego stated.</p>
<p class="western">“Considering you weren’t taught or encouraged to care about each other, I’d say you’re doing pretty well,” Briana murmured.</p>
<p class="western">“Thought you were asleep?” Klaus wondered.</p>
<p class="western">“Just basking.”</p>
<p class="western">“Sorry about hostile accusations earlier… Both of them,” Diego apologized.</p>
<p class="western">“I was already having a bad day, you were just there when the last bet of fuse burnt out.”</p>
<p class="western">“I was being an ass.”</p>
<p class="western">“Not as absolute an ass as you could have been. I know you’re all bark and bristled pride when you smell like juniper berries and gardenias when you’re raging at one of us.”</p>
<p class="western">“Why does that matter?”</p>
<p class="western">“Because that’s your response when someone you love is in trouble. You get mad out of fear for them. Basic emotions when felt strongly enough come with a specific smell. But love is always tailored to the person feeling it. Klaus’s love smells like orange blossoms and sunshine.”</p>
<p class="western">“Sunshine’s what Dave called me,” Klaus recalled, dreamy-eyed. “We were in the most pointless war in all of time and I never felt happier than when I was with him.” Who cares or notices the dead and horrible things if something so beautiful looks at you like you’re not broken, even when you scratch them with your sharp edges. “He made the dead quiet.”</p>
<p class="western">A soft, contented hum vibrated against his back. “No wonder you turned down drugs from the devil. You got yourself addicted to the strongest drug of all time. True love. Not love at first sight, but that person you look at that is the one you will always want in your life. Because your heart knows this is the person you’ll always love. And in time your brain loves them too when they check all the boxes. So, you get to fall in love twice.”</p>
<p class="western">“He never treated me less for my addiction. He covered for me when I was struggling with withdrawal. Just an endless well of compliments.”</p>
<p class="western">“He never worried feeding you ego was gonna push him out of bed? He <em>is</em> a keeper,” Diego teased.</p>
<p class="western">“Your cop girl, Patch? Was she your keeper?” Klaus asked.</p>
<p class="western">Eudora Patch had been amazing. She had challenged him to be better. Not like his dad, who wanted a more honed weapon, but to be a better man. And while they had found each other attractive and enjoyed their time spent together, the only thing they had in common was their want to help people. All the other times was spent fighting about who was going about it the right way.</p>
<p class="western">Patch had come from a family of police and thus considered the rulebook as gospel. Diego, however had been brought up being fed Hargreeves philosophy that the rules didn’t apply to him because of his powers. That he was above the usual rules of engagement and the fans praised had reinforced that idea.</p>
<p class="western">But having no fond memories of the grueling exceptions that came with his Kraken title, he tried to walk away from it. Only for Vanya’s book to dreg it all to the surface. He hated his Academy days and now all the embarrassing and horrible shit from childhood he wanted to put behind him was out for the whole world to see.</p>
<p class="western">Patch wanted to talk to him about it, he wanted to ignore until the fire died. This led to more fights, culminating in him dropping out of the police academy when it felt like being in the Umbrella Academy again. And that was the final straw that broke him and Patch up.</p>
<p class="western">For all he loathed what his father had made him endure as child, he genuinely wanted to help and protect people. To be a hero. And maybe he could do it better with how he was different. Out from under Reggie’s influence, he was actually okay with who he was. It was defiantly sweeter when he saved people for him and not for his father.</p>
<p class="western">This was where Klaus had inadvertently helped him on his path of vigilantism.</p>
<p class="western">Right after the academy, he saw Klaus in the police station, the collateral of a drug bust, resigned to being tossed aside because there was no one there to save him. After that it was all he could see, the people the police were tied away from helping because of their rules. In addition to being there for Klaus, he heard about all the other people the police couldn’t or wouldn’t help.</p>
<p class="western">“Nah, worked better as friends,” Diego answered.</p>
<p class="western">“Are you mad that she’s gone because of me?” Klaus asked, scared and small.</p>
<p class="western">He shook his head before he even finished the sentence. “No, she died like she wanted; being a hero. Saving my annoying little brother.”</p>
<p class="western">A smile spread across Klaus face, that curled cunningly at the corners. “I’m ten months older than you now,” he rebutted smugly.</p>
<p class="western">Diego sputtered like a bad engine, then recovered. “Hasn’t done a thing for your maturity level.” “Don’t talk back to your elders, young man.”</p>
<p class="western">The brothers were so absorbed in ribbing each other, they weren’t paying attention to the teens behind them.</p>
<p class="western">Briana had fallen asleep on Klaus’ back. The day’s nasty encounters had her crashing hard and the lull of being surrounded by sweeter emotions sent her straight to sleep.</p>
<p class="western">Five, meanwhile, had taken to mauling over the burning feeling in his chest. He had noticed it being ignited by seeing Briana with the devil and had no clue why.</p>
<p class="western">She was an amazing girl; tough, sweet, kind and endlessly strong. She was a great friend to have and should have many herself. From what he saw, he should be happy for her having someone who treated her like she deserved, who appreciated the affection she was bursting at the seams with. Were he not so hindered from expressing himself, he would be much the same with her.</p>
<p class="western">Suddenly, it felt like lightening had combusted inside him, almost knocking him off his feet. Realized the thing in his chest was jealously, born out that it wasn’t him who was being so open and close for all to see with Briana.</p>
<p class="western">She had said at the start of the day, ‘you can free two birds from the same cage’. And then set out to show two addicts they could free themselves.</p>
<p class="western">The planning had been beyond keen and cunning; choosing every step of the day carefully, even with the room for the unknown worked to meet the end she wanted.</p>
<p class="western">She had not only stacked the deck to show Klaus how strong he was to break his habit; to give him something of himself to anchor himself when the days were dark and long.</p>
<p class="western">She had also given Five a book that was double-edged sword.</p>
<p class="western">The book had cracked him open to entice him not hid from the people he came back for. He was only just realizing the second reason for the book now in the presence of the love his family felt for others.</p>
<p class="western">It was a love letter to him, tender and offering what he always wanted; a connection. Something he had had the second he met her. Like calling to like.</p>
<p class="western">He was floored. Began looking back on all their time together, now with his eyes more open. Saw the flirty way she interacted with him, how <em>he</em> flirted right back. He reacted to her and she to him. Not melting his ice but rather reshaping it. Turning a block into a sculpture.</p>
<p class="western">He should have seen it. He had and he did it anyway. He had long carved such warmth and wanted the closeness.</p>
<p class="western">The Commission had turned him into a starving animal and sent him on the hunt. He was never satisfied with the blood they fed him. It was too cold to slack him. Now he wouldn’t allow himself the smallest taste of what was offered to him. He knew himself. He’d devour it to nothing.</p>
<p class="western">There was not even the excuse of being a 58-year-old man with more blood on hands then could ever be cleaned. Why would that bother one who’s soul was as old as his? Emotion had weighed her down like time had done him.</p>
<p class="western">He was a fractured mess that had no business wool gathering at the thought.</p>
<p class="western">His whole relationship with Dolores had been made out of the convenience of having someone to talk to, to keep himself sane even if it was anything but. There had been no risk of messing up with Dolores, it had not been possible. Even though leaving her had torn at apart of himself.</p>
<p class="western">Further, it was not that he was incapable of attraction. It was just so rare an idea, it was easily ignored for something else and not mourned when it passed. Even before he left, he never fought amongst his brother over who got to put the sock on the bathroom door.</p>
<p class="western">Even with how she made him feel, even if he agreed to try. He doubted he could express it like the way he had just seen. Not sure he could ever give her that.</p>
<p class="western">He stayed out on the Academy’s porch, cursing himself for his stupid weakness.</p>
<p class="western">He had told the Handler he wasn’t looking for happy. He never believed he would have it or that he even deserved it. And yet it found him anyway.</p>
<p class="western">He may not deserve it, but he wanted it.</p>
<p class="western">He was so consumed in his thoughts; he did not feel the shadow fall over him.</p>
<p class="western">It wasn’t until he felt the sharp prick of a needle in his neck that he became aware of his surroundings. By then, the world had painted itself black.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>(Song ends)</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So reasons this chapter took so long. I went back and forth over whether or not to include the MJ dance with Briana and Diego. as you read still can't write dance scenes well. But I felt like I wasn't giving Diego enough attention, and I couldn't pass up putting the image of David/Diego dancing to the song. <br/>Second, I finally read/watched Call Me By Your Name and it just latched on hard to this story.<br/>Third. I one hundred percent cast Gerard Way as the Devil. I don't think the Sheriff of Emotown would mind the promotion.<br/>Kudos and comments would be an excellent holiday gifts.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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